


Ian is free

by Tanith_so_so



Series: Mickey and Ian [2]
Category: Shameless (US), gallavich - Fandom
Genre: Anal Sex, Death, M/M, Mention of Child Abuse, Shameless, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-01
Updated: 2017-05-14
Packaged: 2018-09-14 01:57:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 24
Words: 64,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9152470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tanith_so_so/pseuds/Tanith_so_so
Summary: Spin off from Mickey is freeIan and Mickey are now finally together and happy - however life has other ideas.





	1. By the power of Grayskull

Mandy sat in the cab beside him with her arm looped through his as they made their journey to his photoshoot. She looked classy and cute in the emerald green knee length dress and pearl earrings compared to his casual dress of denim and shirt.

He had been to New York only once before and was glad that Mandy had insisted on going with him.

“Thanks for coming Mandy” Ian said voicing his appreciation.

Mandy turned away from looking out her window grinning at him, “Are you kidding me? I love the Big Apple”. She leaned forward and gave him a kiss on his cheek, “I miss us, this is the best Ian”.

Ian smiled, “You must be use to the cameras and fans huh?”

“Yeah. I guess after four years it’s kind of normal having a photographer follow you into the womens bathroom” She smiled and put her head on his shoulder “It’s a crazy life Ian, but if we can survive Southside, New York's got nothing on us. Just stop telling people you're into modelling only to pay bills!”

Ian laughed “But it's true!”

“You don’t need money to pay bills, Mickeys got enough money in his account to buy you an island if you wanted it”

Ian picked at a loose thread on his denim jeans deciding if he should be completely honest. He glanced at Mandy and saw that she could already read his hesitation. Ian sighed, Mandy was always perceptive knowing his feelings sometimes better than he did himself.

“I’m only trying out this modelling because it seems strange to not have a job. I can’t just live off Mickey, he’ll think that I'm using him”

Mandy rolled her eyes at him, “You still have a lot to learn if you think that Ian Clayton Gallagher”

Ian knew Mandy didn’t believe Mickey would think less of him because he was jobless but that didn’t mean others wouldn't. Mickey was famous and had hundreds of fans dissecting his every word and action. If they found out Mickey was dating an unemployed guy with a bipolar diagnosis to boot it would reflect poorly on Mickey. Ian couldn’t do anything about the bipolar disorder but the job problem he could damn well do something about.

“Lip asked about you the other day, wanted to know how you are” Ian said changing the subject before he started dwelling of the fact that he hadn’t even told Mickey anything about modelling or todays photoshoot. Ian had lied to Mickey that morning claiming Mandy and he were going to spend the day in New York shopping. He practically sprinted out the door before Mickey could raise an eyebrow in question at him.

"All he has to do is turn on the TV and he’d know how I’m doing” Mandy replied giving him a knowing look that said she could see right through him.

“Yeah, but that's different. I know Mickey once said in an interview that none the episodes are scripted but I’ve never seen the real Mandy on TV. The Mandy that goes with her best friend to a model agency because she knows he will fuck it up without her there. The one that runs conniving bitches over with the car or teaches young girls how to make their own shank to arm themselves with”

Mandy giggles and slaps him on the thigh, “Shut up! Besides, who say I still don’t do all that shit? Mickey just has them edit all my badass moments out”

“He still does a lot with the Milkovich show?” Ian asks.

Mickey rarely speaks about what he does for work and he didn't know how to ask without coming across as prying. Most days Mickey and he spent lounging around the house or shooting targets out on the back deck, he rarely saw Mickey do anything that could resemble work. Once in a while Mickey would leave him at the house and return hours later but he always assumed it was to bail a Milkovich out of trouble.

“Yeah, the final cut must have his approval before it’s aired. He’s also our agent, all twenty of us”

“Huh, an agent of what?”Ian asked shocked that Mickey had a legal job.

Mandy gives him a grin and runs a hand down the front of his cotton shirt as if it was creased and she’s trying to iron it out. 

“If we want something we go to him. Iggy wanted to do the voice for some character on an upcoming RPG game, he asked Mickey to make it happen. Three months later Iggy has a contract with Bethesda Softworks.” Mandy pats his chest, “If you’re serious about this modelling thing Mickey could be your agent. That way you won't have to worry about anyone screwing you over on a deal” Mandy wiggles her eyebrows at him and laughs “I bet you like his kind of screwing”

Mandy constantly made such lewd remarks since the airing of Mickey coming out on national TV just to see him blush. This time was no exception, Ians face heated up with the memory of Mickeys thighs around his waist.

“Wouldn't it be a conflict of interest?”

“What conflict? It's not like you would pay him”

Ian frowns confused, “None of you pay him for being your agent?”

“I doubt we do, the amount is on the contract usually goes straight to our account. Mickey doesn't take a percentage or fee from us”

"Then how does he support himself?" Ian asked getting more perplexed.

Mandy shrugs “My best guess would be he’s an arms dealer”

“What!” Ian shouts and the cabbie in front glares at him in the rear view mirror.

“Ha, you should see your face. Seriously, I have no idea what he does to support himself since he’s no longer starring in The Milkovich. If you find out let me know”

Ian shakes his head realising Mandy had distracted him from bringing up Lip in the conversation, “If Lip comes to New Orleans to visit me would you want to catch up with him too?”

Mandy removes her hand from his chest and looks out the window past him. “You should speak to Mickey about Lip”.

“Why?” Ian asks confused.

“I don't want to talk about Lip Ian, let's just change the subject”

Ian can tell Mandy is upset and relents. His brother hadn't treated her right when they were semi dating and he could understand why she didn't want to discuss or see Lip again.

“Mandy Milkovich and Ian Gallagher in New York together. Who would have thought?” Ian whispered to her. Except for her arm tightening around his they stayed silent for the remaining ride.

xxx

Two months later

Ian waited for one hour after Mickey had left their bed to make breakfast before he rose, wanting to give Mickey enough time to find the magazine he had strategically placed on the kitchen island in the middle of the night.

The photoshoot he had done in New York had led to a few more shoots and after landing himself in a few small magazines and catalogues he now had himself on a one page spread of PAPER Magazine. The page was divided into four even rectangles, each with a  
shot of him in different attire and all in black and white.  
The first photo was a full body shot against a white screen. Ian was barefoot, wearing denim jeans and tight fitted T- shirt. The second just had a close up of his head and shoulders, the lens zooming in on a simple gold chain he was wearing around his neck. Third rectangle showed him in a black suit with a white shirt sitting on a chair and lastly the fourth photo was up close with the suit jacket off showing off the white collared business shirt. Ian had to pose with his arms up like a boxer, both fists up which allowed the audience to see the cufflinks.

As Ian made his way across the tiled floor he grew anxious. He looked around the corner and saw Mickey sitting behind the kitchen counter biting into an apple with his head bent over the magazine. Ian hesitated realising if he was to get through this he needed a distraction. Grinning at his own idea he pulled the shirt he had just put on up over his head with one hand and dropped it by his feet. Mickey was always more agreeable when he was wearing less clothing, hopefully the same would apply for his current situation.  
  
Ian sat down across the island table from Mickey, he avoided looking at the magazine. There was something mortifying about seeing yourself pose and he was rather anxious enough already. Ian waited silently as Mickey looked up from the magazine, he watched Mickey chew and swallow the last bite. When Mickey didn't utter a word Ian picked up an apple from the fruit basket to keep himself busy, he didn't want to be the one to start this conversation.  
He bit into the apple and his eyes bulged, the apple he had chosen was green and sour as fuck. Not wanting to embarrass himself any further he drew upon the power of Grayskull as he had seen Dolph Lundgren do many times in an old movie way before his time and chewed. It was like eating fifty of those sour warhead lollies all at once, all the power He-man had couldn't stop his eyelids from squinting up and twitching.

“Jesus Ian, are you having an epileptic fit?” Mickey asked him as he put down the core of his apple.

Ian laughed and coughed at the same time, the chunk of apple lodged in his throat. He felt Mickey put a glass of water in his hand and thump his back. Ian downed the water gratefully until the cough was under control.

He turned in his chair so he could face Mickey who was standing beside him looking at him in amusement. Mickey was wearing one of his usual sleeveless tops but what Ian hadn't known since he stepped into the kitchen was Mickey wasn't wearing any pants, Mickey was him only in reverse. This gave new meaning to bottom and top. Ian eyes tracked Mickeys white butt as he bent over the table to reach his apple core and throw it into the sink the way a basketball player would shoot hoop.

“If you’re done choking on that apple let's go back to bed so I can admire you in full living colour” Mickey said leaving him in the kitchen to watch Mickeys naked backside move toward their bedroom.


	2. That's why I brought my life vest

A Gallagher conversation

 **IAN** : Lip?  
**LIP** : Ian, what you up to?  
**IAN** : Hey, when does your flight land so I can meet you at the airport  
**LIP** : Shit Ian, I forgot to tell you, I won’t be able to make it. Classes are kicking my ass, I’ve got to make up some credits for last year.  
**IAN** : Oh, I was looking forward to seeing you  
**LIP** : Yeah, me too buddy  
**IAN** : What’s all that noise in the background?  
**LIP** : Nothing, some kids are throwing a party in the dorm room next door  
**IAN** : A party? It's 10 AM Lip  
**LIP** : Yeah. Hey, how's the modelling been? Is my brother going to be on the side of a bus in his underwear soon?  
**IAN** : Fuck off. I get rejected 99 percent of time  
**LIP** : That one percent got Marky Mark famous. Hey, tell Mandy I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to make it this time  
**IAN** : Yeah, I will Lip. When can you come up next?  
**LIP** : Maybe in a few months, I’ll see if Carl and Liam can come too. It’ll be good to have the Gallagher boys together again.  
**IAN** : Sounds great! I miss you all. If you need anything for you, Carl or Liam just let me know.  
**LIP** : Well Carl wants a bazooka  
**IAN** : He’s wanted a bazooka since he was three, you think he’d given up on it already.  
**LIP** : I gotta go Ian, call me soon.  
**IAN** : Wait Lip- Lip?

XXX

Mickey grew concerned when he opened the door to his home and found at least a dozen pairs of shoes scattered at the entrance. He barely had any walk space and seriously considered backing out, forget what he imagined was occurring inside the house. Ian had been acting erratic for a while now, pulling out clothing from the wardrobe and piling them on the lounge floor last night was only the latest of many strange things, it was as if he was going to start a bonfire with it all. The shoes he eyed on the floor came in all shapes and sizes could mean Ian had gone off the deep end, kidnapping the citizens of New Orleans to…make them to play dress up in his clothing? Wasn't that similar to an old movie they watched last week called _Misery_?

"Fuck Ian!” Mickey yelled as he kicked a shoe out of his path.

He made it to the open area and assessed the many pairs of eyes that looked at him, all deceptively innocent looking expressions. Mandy was sitting on the lounge with his bothers and two cousins all of them squeezed on a lounge fit for 4 like sardines. They were eating a packet of pretzels, a packet he recalled buying earlier in the week with every intention of eating himself.

Mickey slowly swivelled his head over to the other lounge in the room, there sat Miles and Emilia with Molly and his son in between them.

“Yevgeny”, he breathed moving to pick up his son. Mickey held his son close to him and backed up against the wall as if all the other people in the room where contagious.

“Ian fucking Gallagher, get out here and tell me what in gods name is going on”

"He's not here” Miles stated

He could see Mandy and his brothers grinning but ignored them. He needed to find out why his house was filled with people he hadn’t invited over but disregarded asking his brothers. From Colin's expression he could tell none of the Milkovich’s were going to be helpful. 

Mickey eyed Miles who was holding a dictionary and rolled his eyes, “And why are you here?”

"Ian invited us, we’re all going on a road trip” Miles said as he folded a page in the dictionary.

Mickey sighed knowing what was about to come.

“Did you know 50 percent of road deaths occur between the ages of 15-44? It means apart from Yev and Molly we all have a high probability of dying on this trip, that's why I brought my life vest”

"Shit Mickey, this kid’s awesome" Iggy said getting up from the lounge.

Iggy came up and held his hands out gesturing for Mickey to hand over Yev. Mickey shook his head and tilted his body slightly away as if Iggy was about to snatch Yev out of his arms, he wasn’t yet sure if Iggy was real, who knew what this Iggy might do. Iggy shrugged and went to the kitchen leaving Mickey to stand there still trying to figure out what was going on.

Mickey looked to his son for some help, “Do you know what's going on buddy?”

Yev gave Mickey a kiss on his nose, “Mommy says I can go with Molly on holidays for two weeks”

Mickey licked his lower lip taking in his son, his blond hair was a bit darker and he was now more gangly, all arms and legs. Yevgeny was slightly heavier in his arms but other than that he looked and sounded like Yev.

The door behind him open and close and Mickey heard the sound of footsteps behind him, he turned already knowing it was Ian.

“Oh, you’re home. I just went out to pick up some food for the gang” Ian said as if there was nothing unusual. Ian came up close and kissed Yev on the cheek then gave him a quick kiss on the lips before turning towards to Kitchen.

“Can I have a word with you in our room please” Mickey grated out as he watched Ian unpack bags of grocery he had brought in with him.

Ian wouldn't meet his eyes so Mickey knew he would not like the conversation they were about to have. It wasn't possible a good conversation could come out of why English's children where sitting on their lounge without either Ben or English. Then there was Yev who wasn't even scheduled for a visit until next month.

“Now Ian!” Mickey yelled. He stepped towards the lounge and placed Yev back down next to Molly giving both kids a kiss on the forehead. Finally he acknowledged Emilia giving her a small smile and wave as he backed away slowly.

Once in the room he found Ian sitting on the edge of the bed folding tea towels. “Could you put that fucking down and tell me what's going on?”

Ian looked up at him his expression sullen his arms now crossed like he was the wronged party. “I told you weeks ago, We’re going to Nevada”  
  
“Nevada? I am pretty sure I would remember if you told me we were going to Nevada with my family as well as all of English’s children!”

“I left at least ten pamphlets out!”

Mickey laughed at the absurdity of Ians statement. He ran both hands through his hair as he paced their bedroom, “Ian, can you please tell me how English’s children came to be sitting out there?”

Ian went back to refolding the two tea towels he didn’t even know they owned which frustrated Mickey. For the past week Ian had arranged everything in the house, the cutlery that use to be kept in the kitchen drawer was now kept in the cupboards that use to hold bath towels. He didn’t even know where the bath towels where, having to drip dry since Ian claimed he could not remember where he moved them. There were also some strange artwork hanging on the walls of their home, Ian had called it abstract but Mickey let him know that it just looked like something Yev could vomited up and give to Ian for free.

“Emilia and Miles picked Yevgeny up in Chicago on their way here”

“Molly's like six years old, English just let them travel all that way?” Mickey asked. He already had his phone out dialling English’s number before he finished his question.

“Hey Mickey”

Mickey removed the phone from his ear to check the screen, Ben answered but he had dialled English.

“What’s going on Ben, where’s English?” Mickey asked. He knew English didn’t like Ben answering his phone or going through his text so he knew something was up.

“Not much, we’re just clearing customs at the moment. Nik’s getting a pat down, I guess he does look like trouble. Do you want to talk to Svetlana instead?”

Mickey frowned. Svet was with them? “Why’s Svet with you and English?”

“Ah, they wanted to catch up with some old friends in Russia”

“Are you kidding me Ben, when are you picking up your kids. You can’t just dump them here on me, at least take Emilia with you!”

Mickey groaned to himself remembering Emilia was currently outside sitting on the lounge. He didn’t think he could handle a few hours of her smiling at him let alone days.

“Sorry Mickey, we’ve stashed Enid and Babushka away but the kids where a bit harder to place. They’ll be safest with you”

Mickey went on alert, “What kind of friends are you visiting in Russia”

“You know, the Yvon type” Ben replied.

Mickey swore and leaned his forehead against the wall “Should I be worried?”

"Nah, this one’s a walk in the park. Just have a good time and take lots of photos!”

Mickey laughed and hung up the phone, he turned back to gaze at Ian who was folding the same tea towel again.

"We can’t go to Nevada Ian, Vegas isn't a place for 6 year olds”, Mickey said.

Ian nodded and grinned. “Well it’s a good thing we ain’t going to Vegas”.

Mickey frowned as Ian abandoned the tea towel and came towards him with his stupid smile.

“Nevada, Black Rock City”, Ian patted his cheek eyes shining with laughter “We’re all going to The Burning Man”.

_To be continued…_


	3. I just found Jesus, it’s too soon for me to let him go!

"Ian, your trolley is full of crap”, Mickey stated. He assessed his bothers, Mandy and Emilia's. “Actually, you all have fuck all that's useful for this trip. Besides Miles who’s checked out over 200 boxes of frozen Pizza and every Doritos packet on the shelf, it looks like none of you are going to be eating on this trip”

Ian glanced at his trolley then looked at Miles cart which was full of food and nothing else. “Miles, I'll trade you something for two packets of Doritos. You can have my…”

They all stood there and watched as Ian went though the items in his trolley, he picked up a pillow in the shape of a cactus, thought about it and stuffed it back down. Ian then held up a green plastic toilet seat, with a few seconds of consideration he put it back in his trolley. Next Ian selected a small tacky statue of Jesus, held it out to Miles but at the last moment stuffed it into his pocket.

“Jesus Ian!” Mickey said.

“I need everything here. Why can’t Miles just share his food? I just found Jesus, it’s too soon for me to let him go!” Ian declared.

Mickey turned to glare at Mandy and Emilia who where trying on a bunch of useless hats they had in their own trolley. They had bonded on the plane ride from New Orleans and now where BFFs which he was grateful for but at the moment they were not helping with the situation.

Ian had hired two new state-of-the-art RV’s with the capability to sleep eight in each. Once they handed in Reno and picked up the RV’s Mickey had driven them to Walmart, his brothers followed in the second RV. As soon as the RV’s where parked everyone had bolted into the store leaving Mickey still in the RV with Yev and Molly.

“You all pack your shit in into the RV’s. Keep an eye on the kids too, I’m gonna go back in and get the necessary items. The items that are actually on the ‘Survivors guide’ pamphlet Ian handed you all when we where on the plane”.

With his parting shot Mickey left them all to it and headed into the store with a trolley. He picked up the water, food and sunscreen which took up one trolley on its own. By the time he was done Mickey had 4 trolleys full of the necessary items to survive Burning Man and ten bikes with three sets of training wheels. He had overheard on the plane ride Miles confession that he did not know how to ride a bike, Ian who was seated next to Miles at the time had promised to teach him.

  
Everything loaded into the RV they headed out to Black Rock City where everyone else was headed as well. One hour in the traffic the lanes became a singlelane that didn't move, Mickey was relegated to the back of the RV due to his hand constantly pressing on the horn. Miles was now sitting in the driver seat with Ian beside him. Mickey could hear their conversation, Ian was still trying to get Miles to share his Doritos but Miles wasn’t budging.

“Look, this is father” Molly said.

Mickey looked across the table at Molly where he sat with her and Yevgeny, she was waving a paper at him she had been drawing on since they had left Walmart. He held Molly's hands still so that he could study her drawing and noticed that it didn’t resemble human let alone Ben.

“That’s Ben?” Mickey asked Molly.

Molly shook her head at him, “No, it's father. See?” Molly put the picture down on the middle of the table and pointed her little index finger at a perfectly drawn vertical cigarette with all the right colouring of pale orange and white, it even had smoke coming from the top.

“Ah, now I see the resemblance” Mickey answered giving her a small smile. He now understood that by ‘father’ she meant English and Ben would definitely of had a hand in coaching Molly to draw a cigarette instead of a human form English.

He hadn’t seen Molly in a few months but since then like Yevgeny she had grown a bit taller and was now even more pretty if that where possible, it was no wonder Yev was so attached to her.

“Dad, when can I marry Molly?” Yev asked.

Yevgeny’s head was still bent over his picture his hand furiously colouring in a police car with a thick green crayon. Mickey saw Yev wasn’t even being careful to colour inside the lines, the whole page turned from white to green, car or no car.

“Aren’t you too young buddy?” Mickey asked. By now he was use to Yev’s questions about Molly, he had been asking it since their first visit to Devon.

“Nah, when you know you know”

Yev finally stopped his furious colouring in and looked up at him, Mickey thought his heart must have skipped a beat. This perfect kid of his and Svetlana had been created from the lowest moment in his whole life but Mickey found he no longer looked back at that day in anger and pain.

“Know what Yev?” Mickey whispered his voice choked up with emotion.

“The love bug” Yev explained rolling his eyes.

Mickey saw from across the table that Molly was nodding in agreement to Yev's explanation, despite their size both her and Yev where six going on sixty.

“You can get married at Burning Man, they do wedding ceremonies there” Ian yelled from the front seat of the RV.

“Fuck Ian, don’t give them any more ideas!” Mickey yelled back.

“Yev's right, when you know you know” Ian yells at him.

“Mister Mickey, we even wrote our vows. Do you want to read them?” Molly asked her big green eyes blinked at him.

XXX

Day one at Burning Man was utter chaos, Mickey had to navigate his way carefully between managing his brothers, keeping an eye on the kids and looking after Ian. By day three Mickey was exhausted, sunburnt and pondering if he should pack everyone up and take them back to New Orleans.  
He turned over to watch Ian as he slept, the tent was only small and Ians legs had to bend slightly in order to fit in the two man tent. On the first night there they had taken a look at the queen size bed in the RV, eyed the kids then turned to look at Miles and Emilia who where to share the RV with them. Ian had wordlessly unpacked the tent, setting it up a few feet away from the RVs to give the both of them a little bit of privacy.

Ian moved closer to him mumbling sleepily about it being cold and Mickey lifted his arm allowing Ian to burrow into his side.

“How can the desert be so cold” Ian asked.

Mickey kissed the top of Ians head “Miles covered that in yesterday's lecture, something about heat escaping into space”.

Mickey could now here Ian snoring slightly and knew it would be daylight before Ian woke again. He pulled the blanket with his free hand up over Ians shoulder and went back to devising a plan for tomorrow. When they had first arrived at Burning Man everyone had run off in the same fashion as the day at Walmart leaving him with the Kids and the chore of setting up their site for the next week. When everyone was hungry they returned in the evening expecting food to be ready. Mickey had fed Molly and Yev one Pizza and merrily ate the other as everyone else looked on.

Miles insisted that any club or group activity at the Burning Man was beneath his intellect so he set up his own in order to give back to the community. Five times a day he gave a 30 minute session called “Did you know…”, it turned out there where a lot of people who didn't know so his original five sessions a day became ten and because no one actually slept at Burning Man his lectures where held at random hours. Yesterday Mickey had woken up in the tent to the sound of Miles voice, “Did you know” and thought he was in a very bad dream. He had opened the tent flap, peered outside and found Miles sitting on their blow up couch while 30 Burners where hanging on to his every word like he was the second messiah at 4 am.

Mandy and Emilia took off every day like clockwork and came back in the strangest costumes, today Emilia was in a priest outfit while Mandy was wearing a nun costume as if it was their everyday wear.

The Milkovich boys got on their bikes at the crack of dawn and returned for meals only to leave again at every opportunity. Sometimes Mickey allowed them to take Molly and Yev with them depending on where they were headed. It turned out they loved the artwork that where set up miles around Burning Man and took the kids with them when they went exploring. Two days ago they took the kids with them and when they returned both Molly and Yev were covered in henna tattoos from head to toe. Mickey and Ian had sent them to wash it off but it was no use, the henna would last at least a week. For now the kids would look like they belonged to a cannibal tribe.

As Mickey drifted off to sleep with Ian tucked into him he decided on how to spend the rest of the time in Black Rock City.

XXX

“Mandy, you find me what I was looking for?” Mickey yelled from outside the RV.

“Fuck’n wait a minute!”

Mickey nodded at Emilia who was standing at the opening of the RV, he had seen little of her the last few days which he was glad for.

“Hey, you enjoying your time here?” Mickey asked

Emilia twirled a finger through a red curl in her long hair, today she was dressed in a kimono with her face painted white and two spots of red circles on her cheek.

“Very much so, everyone is so friendly”

“By friendly you must mean crazy” Mickey replied giving her a small smile. She nodded looking downwards to hide her own grin.

Mandy jumped off the last two steps of the RV and threw the two costume packets at him.

“What are you gonna do with those?”

Mickey looked at Ian who sitting on the desert ground crossed legged with the Molly and Yev in front of him. Ian was attempting to play the Ukulele he had traded his toilet seat for with a Burner in the next group over.

“We're gonna go have some fun. Hey, can you make sure the boys are back here by midnight”

“Why?”Mandy asked.

Mickey gave up on trying to open the costume packet with his hands and tore through the packaging with his teeth “We’re gonna have our own gladiator night”

Mandy nodded “You want me to take Molly and Yev for the day?”

“Yeah, if you don’t mind”

“That's my nephew your talking about, I’d keep him forever if you let me” Mandy replied.

“Hey Ian, put this on” Mickey waived at Emilia and Mandy and took a few steps over to where Yev sat. He threw the grass skirt at Ian, it floated through the air and landed softly on his head.

“What the fuck is this?” Ian asked inspecting the many strands that made the skirt.

“It's a Hula skirt, put it on so we can get going” Mickey yelled dropping his pants where he stood and went about tying on his own grass skirt.

“But I'm not wearing any underwear!”

Mickey laughed, “Neither am I”. Mickey waited for Ian who handed his Ukulele to Molly before returning to the RV to modestly put on his skirt.

“Fuck Mickey, this is so weird” Ian muttered coming out of the RV.

Mickey inspected Ian from head to toe, he was naked as the day he was born except for the grass skirt. When Ian walked towards him Mickey could see parts of Ians balls.

“Everything about Burning Man is weird. Comon’ or we’ll be late for our match” Mickey put his arm around Ians neck and dragged him towards the centre of Burning Man where the tennis tournament was being held.

Ian eyed the tennis racket and then glared at Mickey, “Are you for real, we gonna play tennis?”

Mickey shrugged “Sure, I’ve signed us up for a doubles match”

“Fuck Mickey, this is some gay shit” Ian said looking around at the crowd that had gathered for the match. There was a net erected and their opponents where already standing on the other side of the net practicing their swinging hand.

“Oh, gay like the belly dancing class you made me take yesterday? Or gay like the human pyramid club we joined. The man that stood on my shoulders was at least 300 pounds overweight”

Ian grinned recalling the event, “Man, I told you with your short ass you should have been the one to be at the top of the pyramid!”

“Yeah, well suck it up. I think you’re serving”

“Huh?” Ian asked confused.

“People are waiting, you’re up. Serve the ball” Mickey explained.

Ian looked around for the tennis ball while swinging his racket to try and psych himself up. He had never played tennis before let alone in nothing but a grass skirt with an audience.

“Where’s the ball Mickey?”

“What ball?” Mickey gave Ian an innocent expression he had seen Molly and Yev give him many times when they were up to no good. “This is conceptual tennis. It's all in the journey, not the destination. Now stop hogging the ball and serve”.

Mickey would never forget the look on Ian’s face as he served the non existent ball, he hoped someone out in the crowd had taken a photo and mentally made a point of checking later on. Ian threw the imaginary ball into the air and swung the racket with his right hand, the imaginary ball connected with his racket and sailed through the air. The crowed cheered as the opponent stepped up and hit the ball volleying it back over the net.  
Mickey gave himself to the atmosphere that was Burning Man and volleyed the ball back over the net. They played for two hours straight working up a sweat and in the end the judge called the game a tie.

They shook hand with their opponents who where dressed in nothing but an apron and made their way over to a large bonfire that was burning high into the sky. There was music in the air that carried over from a dance event near by. Mickey took a drag of his cigarette and pulled a sweaty Ian to him kissing him with his smoke filled lungs. This was the only way Ian smoked these days, both of them enjoyed the giving and receiving of their new favourite pastime.

Ian looked at him his eyes reflecting the bonfire “Let’s move the tent further out when we get back. I don’t think I can do quiet tonight”.

For a moment Mickey regretted not being able to take up Ians offer then and there but he knew sooner or later Ian would be on him, under him and over him. Ian Gallagher wasn’t going anywhere at the moment besides down.

XXX

“For the next hour this is strictly under 15’s, so if you ain’t scared of taking a beating step up” Mickey yelled. He had Colin draw a circle in the sand over 30 feet in diameter and stacked up a whole variety of shit that they had purchased during their shopping spree at Walmart.  
Mickey continued voice raised to the crowd who had gathered around “Unlike fight club, there is one rule. You step outside this line, you lose”  
The crowed cheered and applauded, Mickey watched as Molly and Yev step up to the pile of crap that would be the contenders choice of weapons. Mandy had dressed Yev and Molly in togas with the gladiator theme in mind, Yev picked up two foam noodles handing one over to Molly. They both stepped into the circle and raised their noodle in the air, the Burners cheered again and then it was a bloodbath. Mickey watched as Molly belted the shit out of his son as if he was a cockroach trying to climb up her leg. The crowd laughed as Yev protected a hand over his private parts as Molly went at him with all she had.

“Fuck Molly, I thought you loved me” Yev yelled as the foam noodle whacked him over the head.

Mickey knew the foam weapons didn’t hurt so he grinned along with everyone else, it was always good to see a girl beat the shit out of a boy, even if it was his boy.

“I do, but right now it’s about the glory” whack whack, “I promise to love you again tomorrow” Molly replied

“You tell him Molly!” Mandy yelled from outside the circle.

Mickey winced when Molly connected the noodle to Yev’s face and his son went down. Yev got himself to his knees and crawled towards him with Molly hot on his heals, she gave him one last smack on Yev’s bottom as he crossed himself over the circle line.

The Burners came forward and threw Molly into the air chanting her name. Mickey knelt down grinning at his son who was still on his hands and knees.

“You alright buddy?”, Mickey asked

Yev nodded at him from the ground “I did good Daddy, didn’t even hit her once even though I wanted to”.

“Yeah Yev, you did good. Never hit a girl”

Yev grinned “As if that foam shit’s really gonna take me down, they should see the wooden spoon mom chases me with”.

Mickey chuckled and hauled his son up by his armpits then patted the sand off his toga. When he looked up Molly was standing beside Yev looking apologetic at him, she gave him a small peck on the cheek and took his hand. All seemed to be forgiven as they ran into their RV to clean up and get ready for bed.

After all the young kids had a round at Desert Gladiator Mickey reduced the size of the circle down to 20 feet and the real fun begun.

“New rules” Mickey yelled into the crowd which had now quadrupled in size. “Everything is optional. Everything”

There was now live drums playing off to the side of the circle making the whole gladiator experience more intense. Two male Burners in their mid 30s stepped forward dressed in their underwear and socks, one picked up Colin's blow up couch and the other picked up a tambourine. Mickey didn’t even know where the tambourine came from or what the Burner was thinking, or maybe if he wasn't thinking. He had noticed a lot of the Burners here took quite a few variety of recreational drugs.

The fight began and Mickey watched on with Ian standing beside him, they both still had on their hula skirt.

“I must admit, when that guy picked up the couch I thought he must have been high” Ian murmured to him. “But now I see its merits”

Couch guy pushed tambourine man with the blow up couch until he was near the edge of the circle, the couch was a double seater and it was hopeless the way tambourine man was swinging the tambourine because it only reached the couch not the man wielding it.

“He’s gonna lose” Ian commented.

“Wait” Mickey whispered to Ian eyes still on the gladiators.

A moment before tambourine man was pushed over the line he flipped the plastic couch up so it was vertical in the air. Once it was no longer pushing at him he charged for his friend with the Tamborine hitting him in the chest then alternating to his backside. When the tambourine was no longer the ideal weapon tambourine man threw his choice of weapon onto the ground and picked up his friend and hauled him to the edge of the circle.

Burners screamed and chanted “Hey Mr Tambourine man, play a song for me”.

A few more Burners had their time in the Gladiator ring until next up was Iggy and Colin, they forwent any weapons and just used their fists. Mickey had seen all this before many times, his bothers went at one another on a weekly basis. Instead he turned his sights to Ian who was now cheering on both his bothers as they threw kicks and punches.

He wished the week could last forever, here they were in a parallel universe where the music never stopped and the sun metaphorically never went down. Mickey had overheard Ian and Lips phone conversation a while back and knew he needed to do something about Lip before Ian found out his brother was spiralling out of control again. He knew Lip meant a lot to Ian and Ian had been disappointed when Lip had decided there where more important things to do than spend time with him.

“Whats wrong?” Ian asked turning to him.

“Nothing, watch this” Mickey said turning back to Iggy and Colin.

Colin fell to the ground his body curled in protecting his head as Iggy kicked him in the stomach. Iggy raised his hands in the air taking a moment to enjoy the crowds adulation, he did a full 360 pumping his fists.  
Colin took advantage of Iggy’s distraction and pulled Iggy’s right leg out from under him, Iggy fell on his back and Colin was on him an instant later. Colin’s punches where brutal and the crowd loved it. When he saw that Iggy was no longer fighting back he picked up one of Iggy’s leg and dragged it over the the circle line. Once there he pushed it over the line and claimed his own air victory pump.

Mickey waited until he saw Iggy sit up and split out blood, Colin hauled him into a standing position and they hugged each other.

“We’re up” Mickey said taking off his hula skirt and stepping into the circle. When Ian didn’t follow he cocked an eyebrow and baited him “What, worried I'll damage that pretty face of yours?”

Ian choked back a laugh tearing of his hula skirt and followed Mickey into the ring. Mickey winked at him and placed both his hands behind his back motioning with his head at Iggy. Ian watched as Iggy look around at the Burners and decided on the ideal candidate, he indicated for the burner to take off his shirt. With shirt in hand Iggy used it to tie Mickeys wrist behind his back.

Ian spat into the ground as a Burner tied his own hands behind his back grinned “You are so fucking dead Mickey”.

Mickey barged at Ian like a bull and Ian was the red flag, it pushed Ian back a few steps and hurt the hell out of his chest. Ian grunted and turned his body so Mickey stumbled forward almost nearing the circle line due to his own momentum.

“That all you got?” Ian yelled egging him on. Ian waited for the right moment and stepped towards Mickey. He didn’t come running at Mickey but waited patiently when Mickey tried to head butt him. Ian open his mouth and bent down until his teeth latched on to Mickeys chest just above his right nipple, he bit down hard and tasted blood.

After that the crowd went crazy and Desert Gladiator took on an all new level of low. Mickey fell to his knees in pain and Ian looked at him in concern only to have Mickey bend forward and bite him on his inner thigh. Ian went down as Mickey knew he would, the thighs were a delicate place for everyone.

“That all you got Mickey” Ian grunted while still on the ground.

Mickey grinned, “Fuck no, just didn’t want to see you cry”. 

Mickey awkwardly stood up took a few steps away from Ian then ran towards Ian who was now laying flat on his back. He used his whole body to propel him onto Ian wanting to flatten him like a pancake but at the last second he saw Ian had been waiting for him to do just that. Ian rolled out of the way and Mickey hit the dessert ground hard. Mickey spat out some of the dirt in his mouth and felt Ian climb on top of him pinning him to the ground with his body. 

“Say Uncle” Ian whispered into his ear.

“Fuck you” Mickey spat and wriggled trying to get out from under Ian.

“Shit, stop that” Ian hissed.

Mickey didn’t let up, he bucked harder to throw Ian off him. The crowd was now cheering so loud it was deafening, Mickey refused to lose this fight.

“I'm serious Mickey, stop wriggling” Ian begged.

Mickey felt something hard digging into his back side and turned his head to look at Ian.

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

“I'm like pavlova’s dog. My bare dick rubbing against your crack, I get hard”

Mickey groaned and put his forehead back to the ground to hide his face from everyone, he could hear the cheering turn into soft murmuring as the seconds passed where both Ian and himself were not making any movement. He even caught someone ask if they both had fallen asleep.

“It's Pavlov, not pavlova” Mickey corrected.

“Fuck Mickey, now's not the time to correct my shit” Ian hissed.

He chuckled into the dirt. It was either laugh or cry at this moment because he could feel Ian getting harder which was starting to make him hard as well.

_To be continued_

 


	4. Fifty shades of Cillian Murphy

“I think we’re lost” Ian muttered.

Mickey rolled his eyes and spat out the sand that seemed to always be present in his mouth. After breakfast they had all decided to ride out to the largest sculpture which turned out to be of a blue wombat. Getting to the sculpture was easy, getting back seemed to be causing them some trouble. It was strange with the desert being so flat that they were not able to see where the Burning man was, but as Mickey looked around he couldn’t see the camp site in all four directions.

“What’s that?” Miles asked pointing into the distance.

Mickey turned squinting in the direction of Miles finger, he couldn't see anything but dust, and it was moving.

"Fuck! Mickey exclaimed. He took off his shirt and ran to Yev who was still straddling his bike. “It’s a sandstorm, put your fucking goggles on and lay down flat on the ground. Cover your faces!”

He wrapped his shirt over his sons face and lay him on the ground then turned to look for Molly and found that Ian had copied him and wrapped Molly up in his own shirt. Ian carried Molly over and lay her next to Yev.

The wind and sand hit Mickey and he dropped to the ground dragging Ian with him, they crawled until both of them had Yev and Molly between them. Mickey felt Mandy on his other side and hoped his brothers had the brains to do as he asked before the sandstorm hit. He covered his mouth and nose with his arm, the first intake of breath was full of sand. He coughed and put his face up on Yev's back and breathed through Yev's shirt using it as a filter instead. He felt around for Ians head and when he found it he kept his hand there to keep them connected.

Once the storm passed Mickey stood up and inspected Yev and Molly, they grinned at him and gave him a thumbs up sign.

“That was Epic!” Iggy claimed.

“I can't hear you, got so much sand in my ears!” Jamie yelled back

“You’ve always had sand in between your ears” Iggy muttered.

Mickey handed Ian his shirt to him and inspected his back. It looked slightly raw from the sands abrasiveness but no real injury .

“All good, you’re still pretty as ever”

“Okay what now?” Mandy asked looking around.

They were lost, even Mickey was ready to acknowledge it. They had been on their bikes for three hours since leaving the wombat behind and now they could not see any sign of Wombat or Burning Man.

Mickey spat into the dirt and went to kneel beside Miles who was sitting cross legged on the ground. “Miles, what's our plan?”

Miles glanced up at him, "What?"

He grinned “You wouldn't have come riding with us if you didn't think you would make it back alive, so what's our plan on surviving?”

“I didn't want to come! You told me I was stupid for not knowing how to ride a bike and then tricked me!”

“How did I trick you?” Mickey asked. He had sand up his nose and in his eyes, all he wanted was a nice long shower but there was a punk kid standing in his way.

“You made up some bullshit speech about ‘your bothers are my bothers’!”

Earlier when Colin had suggested they all ride out to the furthest sculpture everyone had been up for it except Miles. Miles had been adamant on not coming along claiming his brothers teased him about having training wheels. Mickey explained teasing was what brothers do, Miles who didn't have any bothers couldn't argue what he didn’t know. Mickey being the brother that he was spent that next ten minutes removing the training wheels off Molly and Yev’s bike and had them fitted on Colin's and Iggy’s bike so that theirs matched with Miles.

“It's not bullshit and nows your chance to show Colin you are not just some know-it-all. I bet you've got a map in your backpack right?” Mickey watched as Miles nodded. “And I bet you've got a compass that you know how to use?”

Mickey’s hopes deflated when Miles shook his head.

“Emilia’s tasked with carrying the compass” Miles adds belatedly

“Here” Emilia says throwing the compass into the air in an arc to have it land softly in Miles lap.

“Miles”, Mickey says his face now serious. He waits until he has Miles full attention and nods at the the compass and map, “You're gonna get us back and we're all gonna tell this tale about how Miles walked us out of the desert for years to come. Got it?”

xxx

Two hours later and they were still riding with only water and some crackers left, no camp in sight. The sun was starting to set and he could see that Yev and Molly where the only ones that were still enjoying themselves. Everyone else was old enough to know that being lost in the desert was serious trouble.

“What I wouldn't give for a bath” Ian sighed rubbing the grit out of his eyes.

“Next time I choose the location, it’s going to be with a beach and lots of palm trees”

“Next time don't invite us!” His three brothers chorused.

“Hey, is that a van?” Ian asked

Mickey started to worry that Ian now hallucinating, he had heard Mile’s “Did you know…” about how the mind plays tricks on you when your out in the desert heat for too long. However when he looked in the direction Ian was pointing he found he too could see a van off in the distance driving towards them.

“Fuck, it is!” He exclaimed.

Mickey squinted holding one hand up across his forehead, the van was headed towards them at full speed.

“What the hell?” Jamie yelled. “Everyone move!”

They all scrambled off their bikes and ran out of the vans path as it drove right by them only inches from Mickeys feet.

Mickey didn't have time to process what happened because right behind the van was a line of army trucks. Seven trucks pulled up in front of them and men jumped out wearing army gear holding guns pointed right at them.

Mickey stepped in front of Yev and put his hands up, “Hey, no need for the guns”.

The men didn't say anything, only gestured with their guns towards one of the truck. None of them could mistake the request, Mickey pulled Yev up into his arms and led his band of bothers to the truck. They all piled into the army truck sitting on the floor like they would if they were in a ute taking them over the Mexico border illegally. The guns remained pointed at them for the next hour and when the truck stopped they where herded out like cattle.

“You can't do this, we have a right to a lawyer” Ian demanded.

Still ignored they were shuffled into a line up in the middle of nowhere. The sun had gone and the stars where now out, Mickey looked at his watched and found that it was past nine o'clock.

“Hey, what's going on here” Mickey asked. A line up with other men holding guns at you could never end well for any of them.

Still nothing. Army guy number 1 motioned for the Army guy 2 who went off to the side and kicked at the sand. Mickey watched as a metal door swung open from the ground up and another head popped out. They were ushered down the bunker that opened to a corridor then they were pushed into a large white room with a mirrored glass wall, the door closed behind them.

“Shit Mickey, are they going to do experiments on us?” Iggy asked.

Colin groaned “Shut up Iggy, we’re not in a movie”.

Mickey looked at all of them and motioned for them to sit. His brothers slid down the back wall because there where no tables or chairs in the room, just three white walls and the white floor.Mickey handed Yev over to Iggy who sat in his lap and Ian did the same with Molly sitting her in Colin's lap.

“I want to go home” Miles whispered.

“Miles, now’s not the time to be a baby!” Emilia hissed at him.

Mickey ignored the sibling squabble, they had bigger problems then Miles and his tears.

"Uh, did they forget to turn off the intercom? I can hear them outside” Jamie said. “These guys are armatures”

Mickey agreed. Everything that was being said on the other side of the door was being fed to them over a speaker up in the corner of their room. They were arguing what to do with them, that it wasn’t part of any plan. From what Mickey could put together they were found wandering about in sector 7 which was a classified government area. If they were in here Mickey would have told them it wasn’t really classified if people could just wander in from the desert.

Mandy went to stand beside him, her face was streaked with dirt and the braid Emilia and put her hair in earlier had all but fallen loose.

“This is all fake” Mandy murmured so that only he could hear.

“What?” Mickey asked his tone hushed to mirror Mandy.

“Those weren’t army men, this place…”Mandy indicated the room, “It’s flimsy Mickey. I bet I could kick this wall down”.

Mickey nodded, yes the wall look flimsy. Even the door did, he bet he could get the lock opened in less than a minute.

“You know what my favourite movie is? It's 28 days later, imagine waking up to a world full of zombies” Iggy said.

“Now’s not the time Iggy!” Mickey groaned.

“This could be our last moments together, I need to tell you I love you all” Iggy continued, “Sunshine was a good movie too, the guy went into space to blow up the sun. Mickey, I wanna do movies if we get out alive”.

“He’s also good in Peaky Blinders, I'm not even gay but have you seen how blue his eyes are?” Jamie added.

Emilia nodded “Inception. That scene when he opens the safe, sooooooo underrated”

“Uh, what are we talking about here?” Ian asked confused.

“Apparently it's 'Worship Cillian Murphy time’ again” Mickey muttered.

Now it was Mandy's turn, “If they did Fifty shades of Cillian Murphy my life would be complete. I just want to eat him up”

“Huh? What?” Ian asked again.

Mickey put his back to the Cillian Murphy fandom and went to work on the door only to find the door didn’t have a lock. "This is just weird" Mickey mumbled under his breath.

Ian leant against the wall as Mickey turned the door knob slowly “Are we just going to waltz out?”

Mickey risked poking his head through to get a better look down both ends of the corridor.

“I think so, unless you want to stay here and be a government test subject” Mickey replied to Ian. Mickey turned back to the rest of his group and motioned them forward, “Colin, you hold Yev, Iggy you carry Molly. I’ll lead and Ian will bring up the rear, when-“

“The rear huh?” Colin coughs.

“Fuck Colin, shut up!” Mickey hisses. “When I say run, fucking run okay?” Despite how serious the moment was he could see his brothers where not going to panic, as he looked around the group he was only concerned about Miles who look like he was on the verge of tears.

Ian put a hand on Miles shoulder, “When we get out of this and we’re all back in New Orleans I’m going to treat you to an unlimited supply of Ice Cream. There is this diner that does the old school banana split with all the ice cream flavours you can imagine, then they drizzle chocolate fudge topped with whip cream and if you ask, they will sprinkle nuts on top of all that”.

Mickey watched Miles eyes go big and round and a small smile ghost his lips. Ian gave him a wink and Mickey grinned back at him, Ian was a lot better at motivational speeches than he would ever be.

Mickey mentally counted to three and threw the door open, he did a quick check again before running through the corridor the way they came. He climbed up metal staircase and opened the hatch by a few inches, peering out and seeing no one stand guard he threw it opened and motioned for Colin to follow. One by one they made it out into the desert and stood around waiting for Mickey to give them their next move.

Once Mickey counted Ian as the ninth person he held on to Ians arm, “Find us a truck”. Mickey watched for a moment as Ian sprinted off then turned to the rest of the group, he checked on Yev and Molly who where now nodding off in Colin and Iggy’s arms. When he heard the engine start in the distance he grinned knowing Ian probably had to hot wire the damn thing to get it started.

“Miles” Ian yelled as he hopped down from he drivers seat. “You’re up”

Mickey groaned. Ian had told him how he had been in a car with Miles who had drive like an old lady. Now was not the time for a driving lesson, Mickey shook his head at Ian but he was purposely being ignored.

“Are you sure?” Miles asked as he stood by the truck while the others where already getting into the back.

“Yep, just don’t drive 20 miles an hour. I want the gas pedal to the floor the whole way, you got it?” Ian replied. Miles nodded and tried to climb up to the drivers seat, Mickey groaned when Ian had to give him a little push up.

Ian walked to the back of the truck and Mickey threw up his hand “Where the fuck you going?”

Ian grinned as he walked passed him, “I’ve done shotgun with Miles before. I'd rather sit in the back and listen to more things Mandy wants to do to Cillian Murphy”

“Fuck!” Mickey ran to the passenger side of the truck and hauled himself in, he slapped his hand on the dashboard between Miles and himself, “Floor it!”

Mickey waited as Miles buckled up, checked his side mirrors and even asked if he could adjust the mirror on his side just so. When Miles started to put the truck into reverse Mickey wanted to commit murder.

“Fuck Miles, there’s no other car about. Why are you reversing?”

“Oh, I forgot” Miles gave him a nervous look.

Mickey sighed “Okay. See, no cars in front. We don’t know where we are going so just drive straight ahead. Remember what Ian said, pedal to the floor. GO!”

The truck picked up speed and Mickey grinned, Miles was getting the hang of it. Fifteen minutes into the journal they both saw bright lights up ahead and Mickey felt Miles slow the truck down and was about to tell him to pick it up but something stopped him as they neared the lights and people.

Mickey recognised a film crew and a movie shoot when he saw one.

“Shit, is that Moulder?” Miles asked slowing the truck down to crawl.

Mickey leaned over Miles to peer out his window, “Who’s Moulder?”

“You know, Gillian and Moulder. The truth is out there”

“What truth?”

Miles shoved his head back and glared at him as he picked up speed “They were fucking actors, probably not even real guns. Do you think we’ll be on the new episode of the X-Files?”

With the mention of X-Files Mickey finally got the reference to Gillian and Moulder, “If we are I’ll make sure we all get paid for it. Us Milkovich's aren't use to being cameo’s but I’m sure Colin would love the idea on being in a Sci fi show”

“Uh, is that a GPS?” Miles asked pointing to a small screen on the dashboard.

Mickey held it up and turned it on, “Shit Miles, looks like you saved our lives after all!”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This ones dedicated to Cillian Murphy, obviously :)  
> Thanks to fanfic I can mention him and gallavich together


	5. You’re bottom, shut the fuck up

Mickey pushed the door open to their home to find English and Ben on the couch, for once he was glad people where making themselves welcome in his home. He dumped Molly into Ben’s lap and took Yev out of Ians arms and dumped him on English.

“Your turn, have them all wash and fed. We'll see you all in the morning” Mickey said as he took hold of Ian's hand and dragged him to their ensuite.

“It's only 9am!” Ben yelled from the couch.

Mickey laughed as he pushed their bedroom door open shoving Ian in. He locked the door behind them and started stripping himself as he went , by the time he stepped into the bathroom he was already naked.

“Am I joining you?” Ian yelled.

Mickey stuck his head back out and cocked a brow at him “Only if you want to fuck me”.

“We’re so dirty the water’s turning brown” Ian mumbled as he stood there.

Mickey ran his soapsud hands down Ians right calf lathering it up so his leg was all foam before moving to the left calf. Once satisfied with the bottom half of Ians body he paid the same attention to Ians arms and chest. Since Ian had been more conscientious of what he ate he had leaned up but balanced it by going to the gym every second day when they were not busy.

“You know what the hair on your chest does to me?” Mickey murmured as he ran his hands through the splatter of hair. The hair was a shade darker than his head and Mickey found it fascinating.

"It gets you hard just like everything else” Ian said grinning at him.

“Your smug face doesn't get me hard” Mickey replied as he squeezed more soap into his hand moving on to lather Ian's neck.

This close together with his hands on Ian, Mickey couldn’t help but step closer so that their bodies rubbed up one another, his hands forgetting that they were meant to be washing Ian.

“Are we gonna kiss yet?” Ian asked softy his eyes on Mickeys lips.

Mickey grinned and shook his head, “No, I’ve got to wash your hair then you're going to return the favour. We can kiss in bed, I don’t wanna fuck standing up right now”

Ian gave a loud sigh and picked  the shampoo off the rack squeezing a dollop into Mickeys waiting hands “Yeah yeah, if we kiss here we’ll end up fucking here. The wash down I give you is going to be no where near as thorough”

"Fuck thorough" Mickey said. He shaped Ians hair so that it was in a Mohawk then rinsed it out. Mickey left Ian standing there as he washed down his own body with soap then handed Ian the shampoo and waited for Ian to lather his hair up.

“You need a hair cut” Ian said as he slowly ran his fingers through Mickeys hair.

“Ian, get a move on. You need to lather up my hair, the purpose of a shower is to get clean. We can fuck in five minutes”. Ian looked down and Mickey followed with his eyes, Ian's dick was already fully erect and laying flat against his belly.

“If you want to fuck in bed you better turn off the shower and get on the bed right now”

“Fuck!” Mickey drew Ians head down so that they were under the showerhead together and let the soap run off the both of them. Soap free Mickey pulled Ian out of the shower and patted him dry with a towel. Ian was completely useless, he stood there with hooded eyes looking at Mickey as if he was already imagining himself fucking him.

“Stop it”, Mickey admonished. He dried himself off and threw the towel on the floor, looked at himself in the mirror then at Ian reflection who he could see had his eye on his ass. “We both need a shave”.

“I don’t mind the whisker burn” Ian said softly.

Why was he even bothering to hold off? “Fuck it, let's go” Mickey once gain took Ian by the hand and led him until they both stood at the foot of the bed.

“Can we kiss now?” Ian asked

Mickey laughed wrapping his arms around Ian “Yeah”.

“Thank fuck. Bed now, on your back”

Mickey groaned and did as instructed, crawling to the middle and lay on his back. He watched as Ian climbed on top of him, Ian's legs on each side of his hips, felt the brush of Ian's chest against his. Mickey leaned up and kissed Ian who was hovering above him, he scrunched Ian's still damp hair in his fist to keep him from moving away.

“Fuck Ian, get the lube”

Ian grinned down at him “You where all about making me wait in the shower, now it’s your turn to wait”

Mickey shook his head as Ian pulled away, he had no choice but to let go of Ians hair or risk actually pulling his hair out. Mickey got up on his elbows so he could see Ian move lower over his body until Ian's mouth hovered over his dick.

“Don’t just look at it” Mickey taunted.

“Always so fucking bossy” Ian said as he swallowed Mickeys dick.

Mickeys eyes rolled to the back of his head at the first feel of Ian sucking him all the way to the base. Ian's mouth was stretched wide around him, Mickey couldn’t help it, he started to thrust upwards watching himself slide in and out of Ians mouth.

“Fuck Ian” Mickey groaned allowing him a few more thrust then stopped.

“Mmmmm?” Ian asked around a mouthful.

“Ian, not yet huh?” Mickey said twisting his body to try and dislodge Ian off his dick.

Ian let him go with a pop and moved to the side draw, he watched as Ian grabbed the tube of lube and sighed in relief.

“Here, you put it on me” Ian said throwing the lube on his chest.

Ian moved himself up so that their dicks where aligned, he knew Ian loved to watched their dicks rubbing together and let him be while he squeezed the gel into his hand.

“Ready?” Mickey asked. Ian nodded and Mickey wrapped a hand around both their dicks, they both groaned at the same time.

“Fuck” Ian moaned.

Mickey jerked them off slowly with them both thrusting through his hand, “Bend down and kiss me”

“You're on bottom right now, you can’t boss me around” Ian panted

“Bend down and kiss me, please?”

“That’s better” Ian stated and bent over trapping Mickeys hand between them.

Ian slanted his mouth over Mickey and Mickey opened wide allowing Ians tongue into his mouth. Mickey bit Ian's lower lip then ran his tongue over to soothe it, when Mickey sucked on Ians tongue Ian pushed off and glared down at him.

“What?” Mickey asked.

“You can't do that shit, you know what that does to me!” Ian growled.

“What, it gets you horny when I suck on your tongue? Like you weren’t horny already?” Mickey asked trying to hide a grin as he continued jacking the both of them off.

“You’re not playing fair. I'm trying to go slow and your revving me up on purpose”

Mickey shrugged watching Ians hip continue to thrust forward even as he complained about the speed of their fucking. “You want to take a nap first?”

“No, I want to fuck you into the mattress until you can’t walk straight for a week”

“I bet you can’t fuck me that hard” Mickey said as he threw the tube on Ian's chest only for it to bounce off. Mickey continued to hold both their dicks in his hand as Ian picked up the lube and squeeze a few drops on his fingers.

“Bet you I can” Ian muttered pushing Mickeys hand away from their dicks so he could shuffle further back.

Mickey frowned when Ian pulled one of his legs up resting it on Ian's shoulder, he was now spread open in an embarrassing position. “Ian?”

“You’re bottom, shut the fuck up” Ian ordered.

“Fuck off” Mickey said hotly as he squirmed. Mickey felt Ian rub a finger up against his hole and let out a breath as he waited for the intrusion of Ians fingers.

"Maybe one day I can get my whole fist up there, how about that?” Ian asked

Mickey groaned, “How about Fuck No”. He felt Ian push a finger into him and pushed back down trying to get it in as deep as he could.

Ian laughed above him, “You say no, but I'm here watching to take just one finger. I'm hearing your body complain that it’s not enough”.

Mickey felt Ian take the finger out and felt empty “Fuck Ian, stop messing around”.

"What did I say" Ian slapped Mickeys thigh with his free hand “Don’t boss me!”

“Then do something!” Mickey yelled.

“Fine, no more prep for you!”

Mickey felt the tip of Ian's dick nudge at his hole and took in a breath to get ready for he pain. He felt Ian nudge forward and felt himself give, before he could take in another breath Ian pushed in further until Ian's groin was rubbing up against his. The fucker didn’t even ease into it.  
“I can see everything from this angle” Ian said as he pulled out and thrust back in.

Mickey rolled his head to the side and groaned, Ian fucking him and talking dirty at the same time would be the death of him. Mickey reached down and grabbed his cock jerking it to Ian's thrusts until he was about to come.

“No, you're not going to come like that” Ian said brushing his hand away.

“Fuck Ian!” Mickey groaned.

Ian leant forward and Mickey felt himself fold in half with the leg still over Ian's shoulder almost aligned with his own head. His dick was now trapped between both their bodies and was giving him just enough friction to go mad but not enough to give him release..

“I remember you saying I can’t fuck you hard enough?” Ian said above him. They were both panting now.

“Why are you still talking?” Mickey groaned.

Ian pulled out and grinned at him, he watched as Ian move his other leg up over Ians shoulder. “Like this yeah?”

Mickey didn’t have the voice to reply because Ian pushed forward and back into him. Mickey felt so full he groaned and his head thrashed to the side. When Ian pressed close enough to kiss, Mickey felt his legs up against his own chest.

“I’ve got you folded in half Mickey, you are so full of me and I’m feeling you grip my dick like you fucking love it” Ian panted as he thrust in and out.

“Shut the fuck up” Mickey groaned. Ian was now hitting him in the right spot repeatedly and he was about to come just from that alone.

“You’re such a fucking bossy bottom” Ian said.

“Ian, I'm going to come” Mickey warned. Nothing felt better than Ian fucking him hard, and Ian right now was pounding into him. Mickey grabbed the back of Ian's neck and brought him down for another kiss.

“Not yet, I can fuck you harder” Ian said “Hold onto your legs”.

Mickey licked his lips and did as told, he held both of his legs in place leaving him wide open for Ian to do as he wanted. He watched as Ian pulled out of him completely just to stare at him from above.

“I wish you could see what I see Mickey” Ian said. Mickey licked his lips when Ian gave him a wicked smile, “I'll describe it to you”. Mickey felt Ian touch his opening with a finger “You've got both of your legs held up around your ears, your dick is so hard up against your abdomen it's fucking so hot. Your hole, your fucking hole drives me crazy you know that? Nothing feels as good as being inside you”.

Ian push inside him, this time he went in slowly, one inch at a time. Mickey groaned and laughed at the same time “I swear Ian, if you don't fuck me now I'm going to kill you”

“Bossy” Ian muttered as he pulled out and pushed back in. After that neither of them could talk. Ian was up on his knees bent over Mickey who was folded in half and thrust into Mickey as if his life depended on it.

There was always a moment when Mickey felt Ian lose all his control, right now he felt Ian switch from being playful to possessed. Mickey bit his lower lip as Ian's dick pushed up against that one spot that never failed to push him over the edge, with a groan he came between both of them.

“Fuck” Ian swore. Seconds after Mickey came Ian emptied himself inside him, “I bet you can't feel your legs”

Mickey laughed, “What legs?”.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For bossy bottoms


	6. He’s an alcoholic

Ian turned from watching Mickey and English at the kitchen table to where Ben who stood by the doorway. It was midday when Miles reminded him of a promise he had made about unlimited ice cream and now they were all headed into town to eat their fare share. All except Mickey and English.

“Leave them”, Ben said giving a nod in the direction of Mickey.

Ian hesitated, by now he knew leaving Mickey alone with English never resulted in anything good, it was the equivalent to leaving the stove on but unattended.

“Doesn't it make you uneasy?” Ian asked.

"Of course it does”. Ben stepped into his sneakers then bent down to tie the laces on Molly’s shoes. “Half the fun is knowing you can't trust your partner to make rash decisions and the other half is getting to call them on their shit”.

Ian’s brows furrowed “Mickey got me a photoshoot with Vogue in New York tomorrow then the following day I'm to fly to Boise to do a cover of a book”

  
“What kind of book?”, Ben asked as he turned to tighten the velcro on Yev's shoes.

  
“I didn’t have a chance to look the author but it's called ‘For Love of a Wolf’” Ian replied.

  
He did have time to look it up, he just didn’t want to. The title got Ian somewhat concerned and he was already stressed as it was with having to do two photoshoots with no support structure. Mandy was back filming at The Milkovich’s and he didn’t want to have to ask Mickey to go with him because that would just be too needy.

  
XXX

  
“I’ve run out of cigarettes, give me your pack”

  
Mickey gave English a raised brow and passed his half full pack to him, “You run out or Ben threw it out?”.

  
English ignored his question as expected and Mickey laughed remembering the picture Molly had drawn of her father. He got up and went to the kitchen where Yev and Mollys tiny backpacks were left haphazardly on the floor. Mickey found the drawing in Molly's bag and took it out, unfolding it as he went back to the lounge area.

  
Mickey handed the drawing to English, “I believe this is you”.

  
English took a drag of his cigarette taking he drawing with his free hand, “It’s a smoke”

“Yeah, see on top it has the word ‘father’” Mickey tapped at the neat girly handwriting where the word was written above the picture. Ben had already explained to him that Molly called Ben ‘Daddy’ and English was ‘Father’, he was waiting for what crap English was going to say next.

“Clearly this is the influence of your son” English stated.

  
“I wish Yev could take the credit but he can't. My son is still at the scribble stage, nowhere near stick figures let alone artistic pictures like this one” Mickey challenged.

  
English gave him a side glance “Maybe you should tell me why Ian is going to Boise”

  
Mickey put his feet up on the coffee table, “Did he tell you?”

  
“No, Peyton told me”

  
Mickey frowned not liking the idea that English was tracking their every move. Now that it was brought up he had an one concern he needed to voice.

  
“I don’t appreciate you dragging Svetlana to Russia” Mickey said returning English’s sidewards glance.

  
“It wasn’t your business” English countered.

  
Any body else would have taken caution, he knew there wasn’t many people that questioned English, not even Ben. Mickey really didn’t care, their friendship wasn’t built on tip-toeing around. He didn’t tread carefully for anyone, why start now?

  
“She’s the mother of my son, don’t tell me it’s not my business. From here on out, you leave her out of any killing spree you have planned” Mickey warned.

  
English turned to look at him and Mickey returned the stare, eventually English nodded “She was not in any danger”.

  
“You can’t plan for everything English, don’t play god with my son’s life” Mickey replied.

He never had to draw a line that English couldn’t cross, didn’t think he would ever. It seemed Svetlana had become his family as much as Ian, Yev and the Milkovich bunch.  
Mickey watched as English looked down at the picture still in his hand then back at him.

  
“I should have consulted you first” English replied.

  
It was the closest to an apology English was going to give and Mickey took it for what it was.

 “Ian’s going to Boise because it’s the furthest place I could get him booked into without sending him out of the country” Mickey said answering the previous question English had raised.

  
“Should I ask why?”

  
Mickey shrugged, he didn’t keep secrets from English. “Ian’s older brother hasn’t been making his grades, I think he’s slipped back into drinking again”

  
“The one that’s meant to be a genius?” English asked

  
Mickey wasn’t so sure he would call Lip a genius. He had only a little interaction with Lip and based on that he found Ian’s older brother to be spineless, Mickey didn’t value book smart, he valued toughness. The problem was Ian loved his brother and even though he felt Lip had no backbone he knew Lip cared for Ian, would do anything for him. So here he was sending Ian off to Idaho so he could take care of another Gallagher.

  
“Something like that” Mickey replied.

  
“He’s an alcoholic?” English pressed.

  
Mickey could see English was now curious and wouldn't stop until he had everything answered. Mickey shrugged, no harm in getting English’s opinion because it wasn’t like he was going to ask Ian.

  
“Yeah, so’s his dad. Must run in the family” Mickey replied.

  
“Ben thinks I’m an alcoholic” English volunteered.

  
“That’s because you are” Mickey replied lighting up a cigarette.

  
English ignored his comment “What are you going to do?”

  
“Break his fucking legs”, Mickey replied. “Can’t drink if he can’t get to the bottle, right?”

  
English nodded in agreement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Should we break 'em????


	7. I didn’t see an exit wound

“That’s Lip” Mickey said introducing English, Miles and Emilia to Ian's unconscious older brother.

English had convinced Ben they needed to stop at Chicago before heading home to Devon giving the excuse that Molly wanted to see where Yev lived. Mickey had left them all gathered at Svetlana’s house but as he went to leave English had followed. When Ben saw English head for the door Ben tasked Miles to tag along. As for Emilia, Mickey was unsure what she was doing at the Gallagher house besides hovering over his shoulder.

“He doesn’t look anything like Ian” English remarked.

“No shit” Mickey replied. He took a step closer and pinched each side of Lip’s nose together. Mickey counted until eight before Lip started thrashing, his eyes opening and arms started flailing about.

“What the fuck!” Lip swore.

“Thought you were dead man” Mickey said stepping back.

  
“So you decided to suffocate me?” Lip asked incredulously.

  
“He’s got a strange looking chin” Miles added.

  
Mickey nodded “You know what Miles, now that you mention it…”. He let his sentence trail off as Emilia stepped closer behind him. Mickey turned to her and whispered, “Emilia, can I please have some space. Why do you keep on hovering over me?”.

  
“Sorry” Emilia apologised, smiling as she took a small step back.

  
“Can you all get the fuck out of my house!” Lip yelled.

  
Miles, Emilia and Mickey turned to catch English in time to see his look of disgust at Lip’s outburst. They all knew he hated questions being voiced as statements.

  
Mickey could tell that Lip was hung over, his eyes where glassy and bloodshot. There was also that telltale smell of beer and the bottles littered on the floor beside the lounge.

  
“I’ve got to discuss this drinking problem of yours, let's do it at the kitchen table”, Mickey turned to move towards the kitchen.

  
“Fuck off!” Lip said as he stood up.

  
Lip pushed his way past Mickey heading towards the front door. Mickey wasted no time, he pulled out his gun and fired one bullet into the back of Lip’s left thigh. It was unfortunate that at the exact same time as Mickey pulled out the gun, Emilia had produced a switchblade. Both bullet and blade hit Lip simultaneously, Lip went down like a tonne of bricks.  
Lip let out a scream of pain as he rolled over to his back. Emilia went up to him putting one foot on his hip until he was forced to roll over on his front. She bent down, pulled the blade free wiping it first on Lips denim jeans before folding the blade and stored it back in her dress pocket.

Once done Emilia smiled at Mickey and went back to her position of hovering over him. Mickey sighed running a hand through his hair, English really needed to rethink his parenting methods.

  
“You fucking shot me and that bitch there is crazy!!” Lip yelled spit flying out with his words as he rolled on the floor to look up at them.

  
“I’m sorry, what did you call her?” English asked calmly.

  
Without waiting for an answer English grabbed Lip by the throat and hauled him up the flight of stairs, Mickey had to marvel in English’s ability to drag a struggling Lip up the staircase all by himself with just one arm. This was the most physical Mickey had ever seen English, him dragging Lip as if he was nothing but a rag doll.

  
Miles and Emilia fell in behind the struggling Lip, and Mickey fell in line. English dragged Lip into the bathroom and dropped him next to the toilet, Lip was coughing and holding his hands around his neck when English turned to Miles holding out a hand.

  
Miles swung his backpack off one shoulder and unzipped the bag, he rummaged through it until he found what English requested holding it out to him. English shoved Lip’s head down into the tiles and pulled Lips hands until they were around the toilet. Mickey heard the distinct sound of the cable tie tighten and winced when English stood up.

  
“I was aiming for the neck but got the left leg instead”, Emilia murmured when she moved forward peering to the side of English so she can look at Lip. Mickey wasn’t sure if she was talking to English or Lip but he was glad she missed Lip’s neck, he wouldn't know how to explain it Ian. _Ah, you brother fell on a knife by accident?_

  
Miles shuffled forward so that he was peering at Lip from the other side. Mickey was now looking at the back of three people he had not intended to bring to the Gallagher resident.

  
“I didn’t see an exit wound” Miles pointed out.

  
English nodded crouching down over Lip who was turned at an odd angle so he could still glare up at them. The gunshot wound was only a few inches from where the blade had hit so they couldn’t tell which was causing the most blood loss.

  
“I don’t think you need to worry about gun shot wounds on Mars but you never know” English said to Miles. English wrapped a hand around Lips left ankle and pulled the leg straight, in a quick motion he tore the hem of the denim until it split right past the wound.  
Mickey winced, definately the gun shot wound had done more damage.

  
Lip was now groaning in pain his face down on the tiled floor, “You fuckers, I'm going to lose my fucking leg if you don’t get me to a hospital”.

  
English stood up as Miles took his place on the floor. Miles took out a First Aid kit from his backpack, opened it up then rummaged through the items until he came away with gloves, alcohol wipes and surgical tweezers.

  
“I’ll need more light” Miles murmured squinting at the wound.

  
Mickey being closest to the door hit the switch on the wall, the bulb flickered as if it thought it was on a Christmas tree, Mickey switch it off. Emilia checked Miles backpack, Mickey was no longer surprised when she produced a heavy duty torch. It was like a magical backpack.  
Emilia pointed the light at the wound which had been cleaned but still pulsing blood, it didn't pass his attention that she looked fascinated.

  
Miles leaned forward with the surgical tweezers in hand “Do you want to be conscious for this?”

  
Lip turned his head and glared at them some more, “I want a fucking hospital you fuckheads!”

  
“Conscious it is then!” Miles quipped digging the tweezer into the wound.

  
Lip screamed until his voice was hoarse, it took a good 10 minutes before Miles was able to locate the bullet and another three until he actually managed to grip it with the tweezers enough to pull it out of the flesh.

  
The bullet landed on the floor with a clatter. Miles stood up fist in the air, “Yes!”.

  
“What’s next?” English asked Miles.

  
Miles frowned bending back over the wound “I’m not sure what’s going to stop this bleeding, a bandage? Maybe some gauze, I've got four rolls of them”.

  
English turned to Emilia “What do you think?”

  
Emilia bit her lip, “We probably should cauterise the wound. It'll stop the bleeding and prevent infection, I can find something in the kitchen, put it over the stove until it's hot enough to burn the flesh”

  
“Fuck, please no” Lip murmured from the floor.

  
“Pour the iodine on. If it gets infected over the next few days we can always amputate”, English turned to his children who looked at him wide eyed. “I once had to amputate a mans arm, heated the hacksaw first so it was disinfected of course. He died a week later from pneumonia".

  
“Okay, if your're done with the bedtime story can you all get out?” Mickey asked stepping out of the bathroom so the other three could leave. He stood in the doorway when there was no longer anyone between him and Lip's white sweat slicked face.

  
“Believe it or not, I'm kinda sorry about …” Mickey indicated with a twirl of his finger to Lip who was lying on the bathroom floor arms wrapped around the toilet bowl with two wounds in his left leg. “I don’t really care if you drink yourself to death, however I do care if it hurts Ian in the process”. Mickey stood up and returned Lip’s glare with a cheery smile, “You’re gonna detox. I've read online that you might start hallucinating, seizing, vomiting and there’s a high chance you could die but considering that chance may have already doubled in the last 15 minutes, what do you have to lose?”

  
XXX

Mickey went down stairs spending the next two hours washing the dishes, taking out the garbage and opening up every door and window that would budge. Emilia and Miles helped with all the room upstairs by taking down all the dirty laundry to get them washed. They threw out anything they deemed rubbish which meant the rooms where all now bare.

  
Mickey had tasked English with vacuuming but noticed that he was sitting at the kitchen table doing a crossword that had come out of Miles backpack.

  
“Didn’t you tell Ben you came to help with the cleaning of the house?” Mickey asked as he finished wiping the inside of the oven.

  
English didn’t even bother to look up as he replied “I’ve lived through too much to clean up after other people”.

  
Mickey could hear the sound of the vacuum in the other room and rolled his eyes “Did you just turn the vacuum on and leave it there? The vacuum doesn't pick up dirt when it’s not in motion!".

  
“I'm not stupid” English gave Mickey a derisive look. “A kid wandered in off the street, I paid him a fifty from your wallet to do the vacuuming”.

  
Mickey took the four steps towards the loungeroom so he could see who was in the house. This was Southside, if people wandered into someone else's house it was usually to steal stuff. A typical house in Southside was full of things you stole from your neighbours because they originally stole from you first.

  
“Shit” Mickey muttered. “That’s Liam”.

  
Liam was still lanky but he was taller now. Mickey recalled him last seeing Liam at the hospital where he had parted ways with Ian years ago. Although he was older now Liam still had the innocent baby face he use to, he was also pushing the vacuum cleaner as English  paid him to do.

  
“That’s Liam?”, English asked looking over  Mickeys shoulder at Ian's youngest brother who wasn’t paying attention to them. “But the kid is black”

_To be continued..._


	8. Who the fuck keeps playing the violin?

  
Mickey took the stairs that led to the second floor of the Gallagher house deciding to check on Lip, they left him tied to the bathroom floor yesterday and Mickey hadn’t bothered to check on him again until this morning. He rounded the corner finding Miles sitting on the bathroom floor back leaning against the bathtub reading aloud from a book. English must have moved Lip during the night because he was now lying in the tub. Lips jeans had been removed leaving him in boxers and his wound had been tended to. There was a gauze wrapped around both wounds with the distinct orange brownish iodine underneath. Lip was lying underneath a blanket and his head rested on a pillow, his hands where no longer tied.

  
“Oh hey. I was just reading 'The Martian' to Lip”.

  
Mickey nodded recalling the book, Miles had read it to them on the trip to Nevada. “There’s bacon and egg downstairs”.

  
Miles shut his book scrambling to his feet as soon as Mickey mentioned the word ‘bacon’. Mickey watched Miles hesitate with multiple emotions passing over the teenagers face, Mickey hid his smile by turning to inspect Lip as he added, “English is down there eating too”.

  
As he expected Miles bolted out the door, Mickey could hear the thumping of Miles footsteps as he took two steps at a time down the staircase. He found it strange how he knew small details of English’s family, a family that he hadn’t considered his own. Miles loved food but was always battling to contain his hunger, it was especially noticeable when English was around. Mickey bet it was hard for Miles who loved food and looked up to English equally. Food and English didn’t mix well, therefore Miles was always at odds with himself when it came time to eat. He also knew English made an effort to eat so that Miles wouldn’t have that look of total heartbreak during meal times.

  
“Are you just gonna stand there, I need to fucking pee” Lip said from the tub.

  
Mickey looked down at Lip, he was still pale and there was a sheen of sweat on his face and neck. “I’d help you out but the thought of you whipping your dick out with me in the same room gives me the creeps. I’ll get you a bottle to piss in later” Mickey replied.

  
“Where’s Ian? Does he know you and your posse came here to terrorise me?” Lip asked.

  
“Nope. He’s in Idaho for the next few days”. Mickey watched as Lip brought up a shaking hand to the tubs rim so that he could pull himself up into a sitting position. He made a mental note to have V check Lip over and make sure Lip wasn’t actually going to die during this detox.

  
“Who the fuck keeps playing the violin?” Lip asked breaking Mickey out of his thoughts.

  
Mickey looked through the bottles lined on the windowsill until he found a can of air freshener, he sprayed it all over the room until the bathroom smelled of vanilla. “It's Liam. English says he’s got aptitude, whatever that means”.

  
“Liam can play the violin?” Lip asked.

  
“You didn’t know?” Mickey asked confused. Even though he didn’t have the ears for classical music he could tell that Liam played well, well enough that he would have been practicing for years.

  
Lip shook his head his eyes now closed “How long am I gonna have to stay in this tub?”

  
Mickey scratched the side of his face “I’m not sure to be honest. Maybe a week?”

  
“This detoxing could kill me. I’ve been drinking since I was eight, I’ll go back to AA”  
Mickey ignored Lips whining, “I’ll get you a water bottle to piss in”.

  
When Mickey entered the kitchen he found it packed with people that weren’t there ten minutes ago. Ben was standing by the stove cooking eggs while Emilia and Kev where eating by the kitchen bench. Miles, Liam, English, Svetlana and V were seated at the kitchen table as if they always had breakfast like this every morning.

  
“Hey Mickey, grab a plate” Ben said as he held a frying pan with four eggs at him.

  
Mickey picked up a plate, “Ah thanks. I didn’t know you were coming over”.

  
Ben gave him a look, “Nik, Emilia and Miles disappear for 14 hours and 12 minutes yesterday, you think I wouldn’t eventually come check to see what kind of a mess you’re all in?”

  
Mickey gave a laugh moving to grab a fork from a bunch that where placed out on the kitchen table. He grabbed two slices of toast and stood next to Kev who he hadn’t seen in a long time.

  
“How’s the Alibi?” Mickey asked chewing on his toast.

  
“Fuck if I know, I’ve been relegated to babysitting duties 24/7” Kev replies.

  
Mickey looks around the kitchen “Where are all the kids?”.

  
“Out in the lounge watching Frozen. I swear if I hear ‘Let it Go” one more time I’m gonna throw myself out the window” Kev replied.

  
Mickey cocked his head to the side, sure enough he could hear the TV in the next room playing the exact song Kev hated. He turned to V who was chatting to Emilia “V, can you check on Lip later. He might need a hand to take a shit” Everyone who wasn’t looking at him turned and gave him a horrid expression. “What?”

  
Kev nudged him “You can’t mention shit when people are eating. It’s like voodoo or some shit”. Everyone moved their scathing look from Mickey to Kev.

  
“Fuck you all, I don’t have time for your delicate sensibilities”. Mickey put down his plate on the kitchen bench pinching a piece of bacon from Ben’s, “I’m telling you now if I have to hear Lip gripe one more time I’m going to split his head wide open on the fucking tub. I’d rather do 25 to life then listen to that whiney sack of shit”.

  
There was a knock on the door that interrupted the breakfast, Mickey turned to Liam. “Who the fuck is that?”

  
“Must be Debbie, she brings food over a couple times a week” Liam replied.

  
English stood up, “I ordered a piano, I'm going to teach Liam how to play”.

  
Mickey rubbed the grease from his fingers on his pants and went to the door, sure enough when he opened it there was a huge piano on the front lawn. Four delivery men stood at the bottom of the steps scratching their heads. Mickey could tell they were trying to figure out if they had the address wrong, “You got the right fucking house, bring it in”.

  
English stood behind him looking over his shoulder, “It’s not going to fit through the door, tell them to leave it there. You and Ben will need to take the door frame off and carry the piano in later, the piano legs might need to come off too before it will fit”.

  
Mickey signed for the piano and waived the men off the lawn to turn and glare at English “And what the fuck are you going to do while Ben and I do all the heavy lifting?”

  
“I’ll be overseeing things so you both don’t damage the piano of course” English replied as he stepped back into the house.

  
XXX

Two days later…

  
“I’ve washed him down, he’s going through some bad withdrawals at the moment so be prepared for lots more vomiting and screaming” V said as she sat down on the lounge next to Ben. Mickey was holding Molly in one arm and Yev in the other spinning them all around in a circle until they got dizzy.

  
“Thanks V” Mickey said as he placed the two kids down on the floor to watch them stumble around trying to stay upright.

  
English was sitting at the new Steinway & Sons piano with Liam teaching him how to read the notes off the page. It had taken Ben and him four hours to get the piano through the door and another two to get the legs back on. Mickey had never heard English swear before until he saw Mickey meant to bolt the piano legs into the lounge room flooring. He tried to explain that a piano that cost more than the house wouldn’t last long in Southside unless it was bolted own, and even then it would probably get stolen within weeks. In the end Ben had to lure English out into the backyard with a packet of cigarettes to leave Mickey alone to finish nailing the piano to the floor.

  
“I’m going to get the twins ready for the Zoo, meet you back here in thirty minutes” V said giving one last look at English and Liam then at Mickey. Mickey shrugged, did he think it was odd that Liam had managed to pick up playing the Piano in two days? Sure he did, or maybe it was just that the piano wasn’t that difficult an instrument.

  
Mickey got Yev dressed in a pair of shorts and a black T-shirt that read “ I am Groot”. Ben was running his hands through Mollys hair in the hopes to tame her curls so he could pin her bangs back with a clip.

  
“Have you heard from Ian?” Ben asked.

  
Mickey nodded “I spoke to him last night. Boise is dead after 5pm so he’s been going crazy but apparently there are a lot of cake shops so he’s put on a few pounds”.

  
“How can a photoshoot take five days just for one book cover?” Ben asked.

  
Mickey finished loading Yev’s little backpack with snacks and grinned at Ben “The book cover is going to be hand drawn, I told them Ian was open to doing multiple sketches until they got the right feel”.

  
Ben chuckled as he successfully tamed his daughters hair. He gave her a kiss on the cheek before telling her to go find Emilia and Miles to make sure they were ready for the Zoo. Ben turned back to Mickey, “Did Emilia really stab Ian’s brother?”

  
Mickey nodded “Plunged a four inch blade into him like he was jelly-o”

  
Ben frowned looking over at English, “She beats Nik at archery, though he pretends to let her win. He thinks she needs more practice with moving targets and plans to recreate some sort of battlefield for her to use as practice once we’re back on our own land”

  
Mickey could now imagine Emilia rolling underneath a line of barbed wire in the mud with the blade between her teeth, her face feral and full of delight. “Why can’t you send her to ballet classes or at the very least just gymnastics”.

  
“Are you coming Benjamin?”, English asked standing up from the Piano seat. Mickey could tell that English had heard the conversation.

  
“Ah, yeah” Ben replied giving Mickey an eye roll.

  
“I saw that Ben. And so you both know, when we get back to Devon I’m going to teach Emilia hand to hand combat. The most valuable weapon is your own body-“, English paused looking up towards to stairs “Well, unless you get amputated that is” he added.

  
Mickey waited until everyone left, Veronica, Svetlana, the twins, Yev, Molly, Ben, Emilia, Miles and English all left for the Lincoln park zoo leaving him alone with Liam and Lip. He sat down next to Liam at the Piano as Liam played a few notes before playing them again. Liam had gone through a growth spurt and they were now the same height although Mickey had more muscle on him.

  
“Umm, I haven’t seen Fiona around” Mickey asked trying to find something to say.

  
Liam was still concentrating on the keys in front of him, he gave a small shrug with his shoulders “I haven’t seen her in two months, she comes and goes like Frank now”.

  
Mickey frowned, “Who’s been looking after you?”

  
Liam turned to him, his hands still moving over the keys “Lip has”.

  
Mickey licked his lip “Do you want to come live with Ian in New Orleans? I mean you would have to change schools but at least …” he let the sentence trail looking around the house. Although he had done his best to clean it up the house still looked a mess, the furniture was decades old and there were more holes in the walls then Swiss cheese.

  
Both of them winced when they heard Lip retching upstairs, Mickey hoped Lip managed to get the bucket they had left beside the bathtub this time.

  
“He’s really sick” Liam said when the sound stopped.

  
Mickey agreed, “Yeah but it’s his battle not yours. You don’t have to stay here for this, you can stay at V and Kev’s place or at Svetlana’s if you wanted to. I'm sure Debbie would let you stay with her as well, and like I said, your welcome to stay with Ian and me”.

  
Liam shook his head “Nah, I want to finish school here. Besides I want to see Lip make it through this”.

  
Mickey nodded and stood up. He hoped for Liam's sake that Lip could make it through the detox and knew even if he made it through this the chances would still be high for a relapse. Wasn't there a saying; Once an addict, always an addict?

  
XXX

  
Day 5

  
He had gone 4 days without seeing Lip and knew it was time to check on him, especially since the last two days had been of Lip screaming and cursing them all to hell. He had been worried that the neighbours would call the cops from hearing the ruckus Lip made but apparently nothing changed in Southside, everyone still minded their own business. Lip was now unusually quiet which had Mickey concerned, maybe he had died after all.

  
As soon as he was on the second floor he saw that English was seated out in the corridor. He had taken one of the kitchen chairs and sat on it facing the bathroom where he would have full view of Lip in the bathtub. Mickey paused deciding not to interrupt English who would soon be leaving with Ben and their children in another hour for Devon.

  
Mickey sat himself on the top steps, he was close enough to listen to the conversation.

  
“I’m going through withdrawals and your son is reading me a sci fi book. Is this a new form of torture the British government is handing out?” Lip asked his teeth still chattering as if it wasn’t a warm summer afternoon.

  
“Miles is unique” English replied folding the newspaper in his hand.

  
“Unique wasn’t the word I would describe him as”.

  
English shrugged “Liam's gifted, I’ve hired a piano teacher to come by two days a week to teach him the basics. After a few months I think he can be self taught like he did with the Violin”

  
There was a few minutes of silence before Lip spoke up.

  
“I didn’t know he could play any instrument, he barely talks”.

  
“Some people like to fill silence with useless drivel, you for example” English replied.

  
“Fuck you” Lip replied, though the heat in his voice was missing. “We can’t afford musical lessons”.

  
“It's already paid for. When he gets into whatever college he wants to attend that will be paid for too, you don’t have to worry about money”. English said.

  
“We don’t need your charity” Lip spat. Mickey smiled, he recalled a similar conversation he had with English years ago.

  
“You would be selfish not to allow this for Liam” English said. Mickey winced knowing those words would have been worse than a punch to Lips gut. English always spoke to cause harm. “No amount of money is going to help you Phillip, either you get out of the tub or die here”.

  
Mickey didn’t consider him into deep and meaningful but even he understood what English was saying, Lip could either fight his addiction and get out of Southside or he could succumb to it. This battle was his to fight alone.

  
XXX

  
_A phone call between Ian and Mickey_

  
**IAN** : I’ve been to the Idaho Botanical Gardens three times Mickey

  
**MICKEY** : So you know the difference between a Mimosa and a Acacia tree?

  
**IAN** : A what and a what?

  
**MICKEY** : Nothing, how's the book cover going?

  
**IAN** : Uh, they’ve asked if I could stay two more days. Are you still in Chicago?

  
**MICKEY** : Nah, I left yesterday.

  
**IAN** : I read the book I’m doing the cover for, it’s a paranormal romance novel Mickey. Got shapeshifting wolves, elves and all kinds of weird shit.

  
**MICKEY** : Twelve percent of romance novels are paranormal, it’s got a large audience. A lot of romance novels are based in Boise as well, you would be amazed how many self published authors live there.

  
**IAN** : Oh, I know believe me. I’ve met at least fifty of them at a book convention here yesterday. Some lady in her 60’s wrote a book called “Demonic Heart” pinched my arse and told me I was a ‘hot looking carrot top’”.

  
**MICKEY** : Did you tell her your arse is already taken?

  
**IAN** : I fucking blushed so she made a cooing sound and pinched my cheek!

  
Ian hung up the phone after the conversation with Mickey and slipped it into his back pocket. He was standing in the the taxi queue at the O’Hare airport waiting for a cab to take him to Southside. Ian was thankful that the queue was long, it would give him time to figure out what he was going to say to Lip. He had always looked up to Lip, Lip was the smart one in the family. How was he going to make Lip understand that he needed some help just like the rest of them? It was a Gallagher trait pretend nothing was wrong until it exploded in everyone's faces and Ian couldn’t wait any longer. He would find a way to make Lip see that he had an alcohol problem, maybe get him to sign back in to AA. Would that even help? Ian sighed and rubbed a hand over his face trying to think what Mickey would have suggested had Ian asked.

_To be continued_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm dedicating this chapter to someone I don't know.
> 
> I saw a twitter or Tumblr post a few weeks ago stating that 'Already gone' by Sleeping at Last was gallavich .
> 
> Of course I had to listen to it and boy oh boy, got my heart broken all over again.
> 
> So thanks a bunch, NOT
> 
> (The song is gallavich though)  
> 


	9. Sorry, I just crack under pressure

Ian stood on the sidewalk in front of his childhood home, the house looked the same only where there had been a mixture of weed and grass it was now bare dirt. He took a deep breath walking up the pathway hoping Lip was already home instead of at class. He turned the door knob finding it unlocked, Kevin was seated on the lounge and Liam was seated in front of large black piano that took up half the room.

Ian dropped his backpack, “What's this Liam? You could give Ray Charles a run for his money”. He sat himself next to Liam enveloping him into a hug so tight Ian hoped he didn’t crack any of his Liam's ribs in the process.

“You’re home” Liam replied softly.

Ian felt his eyes tearing up, he bent his head into Liam's shoulder and wiped his eyes on the shirt in the process. Once he was composed Ian unwrapped his arms around Liam, he placed a hand on each side of Liam's face studying the changes in his little brother. He had been gone less then a year but it felt like a lifetime since he had seen Liam, the guilt he felt welled up inside.

“Hey, I’m here too you know?” Kev said from the couch.

Ian let his gaze linger on Liam for another moment before turning to Kev “Hey good to see you, what are you doing here in the middle of the day?”

  
Kev glanced the room , “Ah, just keeping an eye on Liam” Kev replied.

  
Ian wanted to laugh, Liam was not five years old. Gallagher’s could look after themselves by the age of six, by ten they were all contributing to the house. He put a finger on one of the white keys on the piano, “Did you and Lip steal this? It's huge, how’d you get it through the door?”. Liam chewed on his lower lip, his brown eyes looking at Kev but refused to meet Ian’s own. Ian grew nervous looking from the Piano to Kev and back to Liam “What? Did someone die?”

  
He stood up when he heard someone stepping in through the back door thinking it was Lip, before he could reach the kitchen the person walked into the lounge room.

  
“Hey Kev, you gonna sit there all day or help me with the back fence. The thing’s almost laying horizontal out there, fucking neighbours can just waltz through without even having to jump the fence” Mickey said loudly so that it carried through the house.

  
Ian stood there dumbfounded, Mickey had lied to him again. He had only hung up the phone less then an hour ago, clearly heard Mickey telling him he was no longer in Chicago.

  
“Ian, what are you doing here?” Mickey asked.

  
He ignored Mickeys question, Ian studied his surroundings. Kevin over during the middle of the day, Liam playing the piano and the house clean despite looking chaotic.

  
“Liam, Where. Is. Lip?” Ian asked. Liam looked to Mickey and out of the corner of his eye he saw Mickey give a small shake of his head. Ian whirled on Mickey, “What the fuck have you done?”

Mickey took a step back and did his annoying shrug, “What? I’ve been busting my balls with the backyard fence all morning, give me a break”.

  
“We’re detoxing Lip!” Kev shouted standing up. All eyes turned to Kev who looked sheepishly at Mickey, “Sorry, I just crack under pressure”.

  
Ian rounding on his boyfriend, one hand grabbed the front of Mickey’s shirt and the other one Ian balled into a fist. “You’re forcing him to detox at home? Fuck Mickey, he’s been drinking since he could walk. He needs a treatment centre, not your usual half baked ideas!”. Ian saw red when Mickey just shrugged again, he pushed Mickey up against the wall with the hand holding onto the shirt and his right hand was ready to throw a punch at his boyfriend.

  
“You take a swing at me Gallagher, you better hope you don’t regret it” Mickey said hotly.

  
Ian held on a bit longer then stepped back until he was two feet away, “Where’s Lip?”.

  
“Upstairs”, Mickey replied righting his shirt.

  
Ian gave Mickey one last scathing look before heading upstairs to find his brother. He checked Lip’s bedroom only to find an empty bed, he walked passed the bathroom then did a double take, Ian walked backwards and grabbed onto the doorframe. Lip was laying in the tub in nothing but boxers, his face was white and gaunt, there was were dark circles under his eyes and Ian couldn’t even tell if Lip was still breathing.

  
On shaky legs Ian took a step and then another until he stood over by the tub looking down at Lip. This close Ian could see that Lip was breathing, the slow rise and fall of his chest showed that he was still alive.

  
“Between the Piano and your yelling how can I die in peace?” Lip said cracking open his eyes.

  
Ian felt relief wash over him and his knees buckled. He knelt on the tiles with his arms dangling in the tub so he could grasp onto Lip’s arm.

  
“Hey, do I look that bad?” Lip asked.

  
Ian made an attempt to smile knowing Lip was trying to reassure him, “You look like shit Lip”.

  
Lip looked down at himself and used his free hand to wipe at the sweat that had pooled around his neck and collar bone, “Girls dig this look”.

  
Ian took in a shuddering breath, an odd sound came out from his throat as he exhaled. His brother was laying on a pile of blankets and pillows and a bucket filled with vomit was sitting by the tub next to him. Ian stood up emptying the bucket into the toilet and rinsed it under the tap before kneeling down beside Lip again.

  
“I'll get you some clothes, we’ll go to the hospital to get you checked out”.

  
Lip gave a small shake of his head “Nah, I’m good here”.

  
Ian frowned, “Lip, your withdrawals will be bad. The fucking seizures could kill you alone”.

  
“Had them, not so bad. There was one day where Kevin put a gag ball in my mouth so I couldn’t bite my tongue , I don’t know how he finds that shit kinky”.  

Ian stood up and filled a cup with water, he lifted it to Lips mouth who drank greedily. Lip put his head back on the pillow, Ian poured the remaining water from the cup into his hands and wiped his wet hands over Lips face.

  
“What day you on?” Ian asked picking up the container of Vaseline on the floor by him and undid the lid, Ian dabbed his index finger in and applied it to Lips cracked lips.

  
“Kev said it was day five” Lip replied grimacing at the taste of the Vaseline.

  
Ian stood up grabbing a towel hanging behind the door, he ran it under the tap and wrung it until  it wasn't dripping wet. He ran the towel over Lip’s chest and arms, “Have you been hallucinating too?”

  
Lip tilted his head giving a small smile “How do I tell the difference? These last few days have been fucked, I’ve been seeing Liam in here playing the violin”.

  
Ian looked to the corner of the bathroom where a violin was leaning up against the wall “I don’t think that was a hallucination”.

  
“Well shit. Is that really him playing the piano downstairs?” Lip asked.

  
Ian nodded “How did we miss it Lip?”.

  
Lip tilted his head the other way so that he was no longer facing Ian, “We miss a fucking lot. Sometimes us Gallagher’s can be self absorbed you know?”.

  
Ian felt himself tearing up again and wiped an arm over his eyes, “I’m sorry Lip, I didn’t know Mickey would do this”.

  
“Fuck Ian, I didn’t mean you. I meant me. I’m here with Liam, I should have known he was some kind of a musical prodigy. Don’t beat yourself up, I’m fucking proud of you for getting out of here”.

  
Ian studied his brothers face and found that Lip was being honest. His guilt assuaged for now, Ian rinsed out the towel again and continued with wiping Lip down. “What happened here?” Ian asked when he noticed the bandaged around Lips leg.

  
“It’s a rough neighbourhood” Lip relied.

  
Ian frowned and undid the gauze, “It’s a fucking bullet wound”. Ian then saw the second wound below the first one. “Did you get stabbed and shot?”.

  
“Those hipsters that have taken over Southside are rougher than we thought”.

  
Ian opened the first aid kit he noticed on the floor when he stepped in earlier, he pulled out some wipes and gauze. He wiped alcohol over both wounds checking them throughly to ensure that there was no sign of infection. Once satisfied he wrapped up the leg and went back to wiping down Lip.

  
“That Mile’s book?” Ian asked head indicating to the worn out book that was left balancing at the edge of the tub at Lips feet.

  
Lip nodded, ‘You know him?”

  
Ian glanced back at the First Aid kit then to Lip “Yeah”

  
“He read me the whole book except the last chapter” Lip said.

  
Ian leaned forward snatching the paperback, “I’ll read it to you now”

  
Lip shook his head, “No, put it back”.

  
Ian frowned but did as his brother asked, he turned his attention to the switch blade that was rested on the pillow under Lips arm. There was an emerald ribbon wrapped around the blade tied into a bow, the same colour ribbon he had seen in Molly’s hair many times, he had even tied that bow for her and commented on how it matched the colour of her eyes.  
“I don’t know if I should ask you why there’s a hacksaw in the bathroom” Ian said eyeing an old rusty saw that was hanging off the towel hook.

  
Lip gave a chuckle as he rubbed a hand over his face “I was hoping that was a hallucination”.

  
Ian discarded the towel onto the bathroom floor and crossed his arms over the tub and leant forward so that his chin rested on his arm. “You think you can really go cold turkey Lip?”

  
“You ask me that five days ago and I would have said ‘fuck no’. Now I think I’ve got no choice, I don’t get through this now I might as well put a gun in my mouth”

  
Ian shook his head, “We can go to a treatment centre, get you into rehab”

  
Lip laughed “Rehab? Fuck, that’s for pussies”. Lip turned serious, he placed a hand on Ians head “I am still you’re bigger brother and I’m telling you, I got this”.

  
XXX

  
Mickey sat leaning against the concrete wall of the abandoned building a few blocks away. He’d left the Gallagher house soon after Ian had turned up and spent the next few hours firing his gun into some targets he had propped up. Once he ran out of bullets he had taken to the bottle of Jim Beam as the sun set over Southside.

  
He heard Ian before he actually saw him, the scuffle of his feet along the dirt and rocks brought his head up. Mickey’s eyes met Ian as he rounded the corner, he watched Ian stop a few feet away and waited Ian out. Were they going to get into an argument over his treatment of Lip, maybe even get into a punch up? Mickey wasn’t sure which because Ian’s expression was closed off.

  
“I’ve been lookin’ for you for over an hour” Ian stated, his voice carrying across the empty space.

  
Mickey gave a shrug of his shoulders and lifted the bottle to his mouth taking another swallow. He already polished half the bottle and knew he was slightly drunk at this stage, probably wouldn’t have any chance of beating Ian in a fight in his condition.

  
“You been drinking all day?”, Ian asked.

  
Mickey put down the bottle of Jim Beam, flipped open his packet of cigarette and pulled one out with his lips. He lit the cigarette, took a drag and eyed Ian from head to toe. Ian had on a brown T-shirt, running shorts and a pair of tanned leather shoes. It was this strange combination that tipped Mickey over from pretending to be indifferent to Ian, Mickey tilted him head indicating for Ian to sit beside him against the wall.

  
“Lip’s the bigger brother everyone should have” Ian said.

  
Mickey rolled his head against the wall until he was looking in Ian’s direction, he felt Ian place a hand on his thigh and knew it was the hand that was inked with his name. Ian did it often, probably knowing how much it secretly pleased him to see Ian marked as his.

  
“I wouldn’t have hit you” Ian said when Mickey still didn’t say anything. “How long you gonna be mad at me?”

  
Mickey brought the bottle to his mouth taking another swallow, he placed the bottle on the floor and pulled Ian in by the back of his neck. Mickey slanted his mouth over Ian’s who immediately reciprocate. He felt Ian’s tongue licking the inside of his mouth tasting the remaining bourbon and smiled into the kiss.

  
After a few minutes Mickey pulled back placing a hand on Ian’s cheek, “You’ve got spaghetti arms, your punch would probably tickle me”.

  
As he expected Ian laughed “Fuck off, I’ve got zero body fat. I'm all muscle!”. Mickey was tackled to the ground, Ian crawled on top of him poking his index finfer into his ribcage.

Mickey swore and returned the favour by pinching at Ians cheeks and making baby cooing sounds, “Ohh, you’re so handsome”.

  
XXX

  
_2 weeks later_

  
Mickey was sitting next to Kev on the lounge watching Liam practice Moonlight Sonata. Ian watched from the kitchen as the teacher nodded and turned the page for Liam, Mickey had made a comment last week about Liam's Piano teacher looking like the farmer from the movie Babe. Ian had to agree, the man was tall, skinny and had the same balding head. They had all been surprised after the first lesson that he had returned the following Sunday, this being Southside, it was hard to imagine a respectable man would return just for fear of being shot accidentally walking through the neighbourhood. He could only assume English was paying the man a ridiculous amount of money for tutoring Liam.

  
Kev seemed to be Liam’s number one fan, anytime Liam was playing on the Piano Kev could be found on the lounge. He also applauded as if he was watching a live basketball match which received a constant frown from the piano teacher.

  
Ian turned to return to the kitchen to finish washing up the dishes, with his movement he caught sight of Lip at the bottom of the stairs. Ian swallowed and moved forward to help hold Lip up but Lip held up a hand signalling him to stay where he was. The last week they had moved Lip from the bathroom to his bed but still he had been bed ridden the whole time. Ian took the sight of Lip in, he had lost almost half of his body weight and looked ready to fall over at any moment.

  
Ian watched as Lip took in Liam sitting at the Piano, he smiled proudly because Liam was really something. He noticed that Lip was also holding the novel 'The Martian' in his hand and promised himself to buy something cool for Miles the next time he saw the kid.

  
Lip moved forward until he was at the lounge, both Mickey and Kev scooted to opposite ends making room for Lip to sit in the middle. Liam stopped playing and looked over at his brother, Lip smiled and bent his head, hand raised up in the motion of taking off an imaginable hat. When Liam started up playing again Ian went to stand behind the lounge, a hand placed on Lip's shoulder. The teacher gave one strange look at Lip who was dressed in a clean pair of cotton boxers and nothing else.

  
After half an hour of watching Liam play the Piano Lip opened the novel and started on the last chapter of the novel that had been on his mind through the whole ordeal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For Lip who is not Frank, just like Ian is not Monica


	10. But I’ll look like a douche!

Ian lowered the volume of the TV with the remote until he could clearly make out exactly what Mickey was saying on the phone. They had been watching a documentary about the melting of the Polar ice caps when Mickeys phone rung. Ian’s eyes followed Mickey from his spot on the lounge who was pacing the kitchen with the phone pressed against his ear with one shoulder so that both hands were free to wave about expressively as he swore.  
From the one sided conversation Ian picked up that someone in the sports industry wanted Mickey to be their agent. Ian chuckled when Mickey told the person to go take their million dollar contract and shove it up their ass because this wasn’t a movie and he wasn’t Jerry McGuire.

  
“Fucking ass can’t take a hint, what the fuck do I know about Discus throwing?” Mickey asked as he hung up the phone throwing it on the counter then returned to the spot on the lounge he had vacated a minute ago beside him.

  
“Isn’t that like a Frisbee?” Ian asked opening his can of A&W, taking a gulp of his fizzy drink.  
“Fuck if I know, I find out which asshole has been handing out my number I’m going to put them on a spit and roast them like a fucking kebab” Mickey said.

  
Ian turned back to the TV, a Polar bear was now struggling to stay on a small piece of floating ice surrounded by the Antarctic water.

  
“Why are we watching this again?” Mickey asked.

  
Ian turned to Mickey “It was either this or reruns of ‘I dream of Jeanie’”.

  
“Explain to me again what's on your face” Mickey demanded studying Ian's face as if it was a mystery to him.

  
Ian rolled his eyes touching lightly at the green mud mask that was now drying on his face. His agent, the one he hired two days ago once they returned from Southside recommended he find a Beauty Salon that could offer him advice on a face and body routine. He now cleansed his face morning and night, applied moisturiser and exfoliated twice a week. On top of this, once a week he would apply a thick layer of Paul’s Mud for Men that Mickey just loved to make fun of.

  
“I’ve told you four times already in the last ten minutes, it’s a mud mask meant to draw out all the bad toxins under my skin” Ian explained again mumbling the words because the clay was now starting to dry up around his mouth.

  
“What?” Mickey asked frowning at him, “All I got was ‘bad’ and ‘face’”.

  
Ian took advantage of Mickey not being able to understand him, he turned his head to face  the sliding glass doors that overlooked the swamp, “We accepted the invite to Iggy’s birthday”. Ian felt a hand on his shoulder pulling him around but shrugged it off, he didn’t want to get into an argument with the mud on his face. He stood up, crossed the lounge and made his way down the hallway until he reached the bedroom. He entered their bathroom and bent his head under the running tap to wash off the mask. Ian scrubbed his fingers over his face even after he felt his face clean, Mickey had followed him and was now standing right over his bent form. Ian tried to make up a reasonable explanation in his head on why he  accepted the invitation to Iggy's birthday on behalf of the both of them when Mickey clearly stated he would not be going.

  
“You're gonna have to come up for air soon shithead” Mickey said nudging him from behind.

  
Ian could feel Mickey through his shorts up against his backside, he grinned and stood up. Ian turned off the tap and wiped his face with the lower half of his T-shirt then turned to face Mickey. To distract him Ian wound his arms around his boyfriends neck and pulled him in for a kiss. Maybe Ian thought, he could distract Mickey rather than make up some excuse that he still hadn't thought of yet.

  
Mickey only allowed the kiss to go on for a few minutes pulling away from him, Ian sighed leaning his head against Mickeys shoulder deciding on the truth even if it did make him sound like a sucker.

  
“Iggy says you haven't been to his birthday in the last two years”. Ian continued when Mickey didn't seem moved, “Everything they raise goes to charity”.

  
Ian’s eyes got drawn to Mickeys biceps and chest as Mickey crossed his arms. Ian licked his lips and leaned back against the sink counter studying his boyfriend who seemed adamant on staying annoyed at him when they could be having some fun instead. Since he had been working out more to tone up his physique there had been the occasional time where Mickey had joined him in the spare room where Ian had set up there own home gym. Mickey didn’t really work out, he lifted some weights when he felt like it but most of the time he played around with the buttons on the treadmill or he critiqued Ian’s squat techniques. More often then not when Mickey came into the gym room they ended up sweaty for other reasons.

  
“Not Fucking working this time Gallagher” Mickey said.

  
Ian slowly lifted his gaze from Mickeys chest up to his face, his hair was shorter now courtesy of Vee who had taken to clipping the sides short but leaving the top long. Mickey had one brow cocked up as if waiting for Ian to provide a suitable reason on why they had to go to his brothers birthday which was to start in another hour.

  
“Did you hear the part about Charity?” Ian said folding his own arms over his chest, If Mickey can flex, he could too right?

  
Mickey gave an incredulous laugh running a hand through his short hair, “Fuck Ian, that’s how he got you? Charity? How long have you been modelling now?”.

  
Ian struggled to remember all the questions Mickey bombarded him with so he answered the last one which was still fresh on his 2 second memory span. “Ahh, four months I think?”  
They both cringed at the same time, picturing English’s condescending facial expression that he would give when he heard someone answer a question with another question.

  
Mickey grinned “Four months. Have you earned any money from the 17 photoshoots you’ve done in that time frame?”

  
Ian looked up at the bathroom ceiling trying to recall if anyone had ever handed him any cash after a photoshoot, when he couldn’t recall any exchange he pulled out his phone in the back of his short pocket and checked the balance of his bank account through the phone app.

  
“Fuck Mickey, no one's paid me?” Ian asked turning the screen of his phone for Mickey to see his bank account balance. His balance was now at $789.94, it was more or less the same amount he had come with when he arrived in New Orleans. “What kind of an agent are you, I’m getting swindled and you're standing there smirking!”

  
Mickey burst out in laughter riling Ian up further. A few moments ago all he wanted was to be plastered up against his boyfriend, now he wanted to strangle said boyfriend with his bare hands.

  
Mickey bent over one arm on his knee, one hand up to hold Ian off from tackling him on the bathroom floor, “Stop, this is too funny.  Explain to me how you’re being swindled? Fuck Ian, who uses the word ‘swindled’? Please can you say the word ‘swindled’ again but with your mud mask on?”.

  
Ian was done, he pulled Mickey in wrapping an arm over Mickey's head until he had him in a headlock. Ian rubbed his knuckles into Mickeys head hard until they both fell to the floor where they rolled around the small space.

  
“You’re a fucking shit Mickey” Ian groaned when Mickey landed a knee to his groin. Ian lay still curled up on the floor for a few minutes until he realised Mickey had no plans to check if he was okay. The fucker was now in the bedroom looking through his wardrobe as if he hadn’t just almost ended his ability to procreate.

  
“What are you doing?” Ian asked leaning against the bathroom door frame one hand still rubbing at his groin.

  
“Torture time starts in less than an hour, if we’re gonna go we need to be on time. The fuckers never think these things through so we need make sure we get a shady spot if not your pale ass is gonna fry”. Mickey held up a polo shirt still on its hanger to his chest in front of the mirror. “How about this?”

  
Ian frowned,  the pale blue Ralph Lauren would look good on Mickey, fuck it if he wasn’t biased but even a burlap sack would look good on him. If they were going to a party he didn’t want Mickey to look good, he didn’t want eyes on his boyfriend like he knew there would be when there was a crowd. Even if it was just friends and family he was jealous when anyone looked at Mickey.

  
“Emilia got you that one” Ian said moving across the room so he could riffle through Mickeys side of the wardrobe. Ian found a stripped white and purple vertical shirt and held it out to Mickey, “Here this one”.

  
Mickey eyed the shirt skeptically but took it and placed it on the bed, with Mickeys back turned Ian allowed the smirk to show on his face. The shirt he had chosen not only was one of Emilia’s, it would also make Mickey look like a Preppy ass.

  
Ian moved to his end of the wardrobe but was stopped by Mickey who had grabbed his for arm. He turned to Mickey questioningly only to have Mickey step pass him to stand in front of his clothing. Ian winced once he realised Mickey had caught on, he was now going to be forced to wear what Mickey pulled out. Ian prayed silently that Mickey wouldn’t see the white tank top hanging at the back that had the words ‘I'm a Model’ across the chest that Mandy had bought him as a joke when hey had gone to New York together.

  
His fears where realised when he heard Mickey chuckle, Mickey took the shirt of the hanger and threw it at him. Ian picked it out of the air and held it against his chest “But I’ll look like a douche!” Ian exclaimed.

  
Mickey cocked his head at the bed where Ian’s chosen shirt was spread out “Takes one douche to know another douche doesn't it?”

  
Ian heard a taunt if there ever was one. He could either take back the shirt he recommended to Mickey and in the process admit defeat or he could man up. The gleam he saw in Mickeys eyes strengthened his resolved, Ian narrowed his eyes, pulled the shirt he had on off with one  hand. Just for kicks he flexed his pecks for Mickey before threading his arms through the white tank top. Once it was on Ian turned to look in the mirror, yep ‘douche’ was now his middle name.

  
After they were dressed in denim jeans, Ian in his Model tank top and Mickey in his preppy purple collard shirt Mickey stood in the kitchen on the stool checking his watch. “Show me the itinerary, I wanna be prepared”.

  
“What itinerary?” Ian asked confused. Mickey was looking at him suspiciously but Ian didn’t know why, “What itinerary?” He repeated.

  
Mickey slapped a hand on his forehead “You accepted the fucking invite without knowing what's on the itinerary?”. Ian stayed silent not knowing how to reply, he held his tongue because all he wanted to do was once again ask ‘What fucking itinerary?’”.

  
“Ian, how did Iggy ask you?”

  
“Huh?” Ian asked.

  
“Ian, can you concentrate here please. Iggy does this every year, did you get an email, a package?” Mickey asked coming to stand close to him.

  
Ian thought about it and nodded, “We got an envelope, I thought it was a wedding invitation because it was white and had a cute little bow on it. When I opened it it was a birthday invite, who the fuck sends a birthday invite that looks like a wedding invitation?”

  
“My fucking brother that’s who!” Mickey responded. “Did it come with anything else?”.

  
Ian thought about it then went to the coffee table by the lounge where he picked up a folded piece of paper in the same cursive writing as the wedding/birthday invite, “I didn’t read it, well couldn’t, ‘cause it looks like it's in another language”.

  
Mickey snatched the paper out of his hands and unfolded the three fold sheet, “This is what happens when you accept invitations to shit I tell you not to. Bring up google translator, I think its in French”.

  
_Iggy’s birthday itinerary translated_

***************************************************************************  
**If you are reading this you should know you are so fucked bro** ’

  
**12-2pm – City Park**  
Autograph time  
(Wait until you see the photo’s I have amassed for you and Ian to sign)

  
**2-3pm – City Park**  
Hotdog Stand Duty

  
**3-6pm - City Park**  
Farm animal interaction with the kids  
(Remember that time when I hired the horses? God their shit was huge and when they pissed it was like Niagara fucking falls. This time I only asked for dwarf ponies and all the other cute little things that you can have on your lap)

  
**6-9pm - City Park**  
General mingling with the great folks of New Orleans  
(and anyone else who comes because I also put an ad in a few nationwide magazines…)

 **9-3am - Home**  
Party back at the Milkovich house, Milkovich style  
(Don’t worry, this one is just for close friends and family. Not open house and no Media like the last three years, don’t want a fourth birthday to end with the same outcome)

***************************************************************************

Ian swallowed after reading the last sentence of the translation, “Ahh, it's just a party, itinerary doesn’t look too bad”.

  
Mickey gave him a look that called him stupid without saying so, “First year in New Orleans Iggy held the party at the Milkovich house, I ended up at the hospital with a fractured collar bone because Colin let the deer into the house that came right at me” Mickey said.

  
“A deer?” Ian asked.

  
Mickey nodded at him, “You’ve seen Daisy, even fed her a carrot a few times”

  
“Oh, I thought Daisy was a horse” Ian replied. Colin had led him to believe Daisy was a horse by actually telling him it was a horse, he wanted to add, but knew it would only make him seem more gullible.

  
“Second birthday I get a call from the New Orleans hospital, Iggy had set up an industrial trampoline and jumped down from a three story balcony. He landed on the trampoline but bounced off landing head first”

  
Ian licked his lips “Ahh, lucky you Milkovich’s have hard heads”.

  
“Last year the birthday was pool party themed. I get a call from Iggy because Mandy was in the process of killing Colin, he even sent me a short video clip because I refused to go, Turns out Colin and Iggy had thought it would be funny to put blue ink dye in the pool water. She looked like an angry Smurf bashing the shit out of Colin with a plastic lawn chair, I arrived and took him to the hospital. Colin needed 16 stitches put in his back and another eight to his forehead”.

  
“Fine, we don’t go” Ian said.

  
“Oh, we’re going alright, nothing is going to get you out of wearing that shirt in public now that I’ve seen it, not even the threat of hospital”. Mickey replied grabbing the keys to the boat.

_To be continued_


	11. I own a Church of Homophobes?

  
New Orleans Police Station

TRANSCRIPT OF INTERVIEW  
Det. John Stephens

  
Person Interviewed  
Ian Clayton Gallagher [IG]

Address  
2119 S Holman Ave,  
Chicago IL

Current Living Address  
Somewhere In the Swamp

 

Interviewing officer  
Det. Mark Robertson [DMR]  
Det. Jennifer E. Nguyen [DJN]

12:35

  
**DMR:** This interview is being recorded in an interview room at the New Orleans Police station. I am Detective Mark Robertson of the New Orleans Police Department. Mr Gallagher, please introduce yourself with your full name and Date of birth please?

 **IG:** My Name is Ian Clayton Gallagher born 11th, May.

 **DJN:** Mr Gallagher, I am Detective Jennifer Ellen Nguyen of the New Orleans Police Department. Thank you for coming down to the Police station at such short notice. The time is 12:37pm and the date is the 17th of September. Please let it be noted that Mr Ian Gallagher has confirmed that he does not require a lawyer present and we are not laying any charges against Mr Gallagher. The New Orleans Police Department is currently seeking to speak to Mr Gallagher as a routine inquiry into what occurred on the 15th of September. Mr Gallagher, can you tell us where you were on the 15th of September?

 **IG:** At what time?

 **DJN:** Pardon?

 **IG:** I was at a lot of places on the 15th of September, you will need to be more precise.

 **DJN:** Why don’t you start from the time you woke up and do a half hour increment recap of your whereabouts.

 **IG:** Okay. 10am, home.

 **DMR:** You stated you wanted us to be more precise, please give us the same courtesy. Home where Mr Gallagher.

 **IG:** Home, New Orleans. Somewhere in the swamp. If you want the full address you might need to ask Mickey.

 **DMR:** You are referring to Mikhailo Aleksandr Milkovich also known as Mickey Milkovich?

 **IG:** Yes

 **DJN:** Thank you, please continue.

 **IG:** Once again, 10:00 home; Swamp. 10:30, home; swamp 11:00, home; swamp11:30, home; swamp 12:00, home; swamp 12:30, home; swamp 13:00, New Orleans City Park 13:30, New Orleans City Park

 **DMR:** Please stop Mr Gallagher, can we go back to 13:00 when you arrived at the City Park?

 **IG:** Sure

 **DMR:** Why were you in the City Park?

 **IG:** Are you seriously asking me this?

 **DMR:** Please answer the question, unless you are refusing to?

 **IG:** No, I’m all about being out in the open. I had accepted an invitation to go to Iggy’s birthday, it was being held in the City park. So there I went.

 **DMR:** Did you go with anyone?

 **IG:** Really? It’s been on TV and in the local papers the last two days.

 **DJN:** Please answer the question Mr Gallagher

 **IG:** Can you at least call me Ian?

 **DJN:** Of course Mr Gal-, I mean Ian.

 **IG:** Thank you. I went to the City Park with Mickey and before you ask, yes Mickey Milkovich slash Mikhailo Aleksandr Milkovich.

 **DRM:** So, it was Iggy’s birthday?

 **IG:** Half the New Orleans police department was probably there as well as all the good citizens of New Orleans, so yeah, Iggy was hosting a birthday.

 **DMR:** No need to get hostile Ian

 **IG:** This ain’t hostile. I’d just like for you to stop beating around the bush

 **DJN:** Let’s go back to 13:00. What did you do that first half an hour?

 **IG:** Mickey and I greeted all his bothers, Mandy and cousins.

 **DMR:** So there was no issue with the protesters?

 **IG:** No

 **DMR:** 13:30 please continue and from here could you please elaborate on what you were doing.

 **IG:** 13:30 we were late so Iggy made us go straight to the autograph signing area. Before you ask for more detail, we were there for like 4 hours just signing stuff. Mostly Mickey because well, he’s Mickey and people actually line up for hours in the heat just to get a photo with him or his autograph.

 **DJN:** Describe some of the things he had to sign

 **IG:** Really?

 **DJN:** Really

 **IG:** Iggy had stocked posters of the Milkovich family members, there were also photos of Mickey, T-shirts with the ‘FUCK U-UP’ motto and a Mug with his face on it. Iggy thought he was being funny with the mug because it had the picture of an old Mickey mug shot. You know, a mug shot on a mug. Mickey hadn’t thought it was funny but I secretly thought Iggy did a great job.

 **DJN:** My daughter lined up for two hours, she got him to sign the mug and he threw in a T-shirt as well.

 **IG:** Umm, thanks?

 **DMR:** What about yourself, did you sign any autographs?

 **IG:**  Yeah, Iggy printed some modelling shots of me as well as some underwear catalogues I did a while back. It was a very awkward four hours.

 **DMR:** Did you have many fans?

 **IG:** I think they were there more for the Milkovich’s than me, I was just an afterthought. Like the opening band to the concert everyone pays to go see or the starter you eat in order to have the main course.

 **DMR:** Are you resentful to Mr Milkovich’s popularity?

 **IG:** Are you asking if I am jealous of Mickey?

 **DMR:** Are you?

 **IG:** Fuck no. Do you know his fans are placing flowers in front of the Milkovich house for him as if he’s dead? It's been less than two days, it's fucking nuts.

 **DJN:** So, if you were to give me a ratio on how many shirts, posters and underwear catalogues you signed versus what Mr Milkovich signed what would it be?

 **IG:** What’s this got to do with anything?

 **DJN:** Please answer the question

 **IG:** Maybe 78:1

 **DJN:** Thank you

 **DMR:** So you signed autographs until 17:00?

 **IG:** About that time. There was still a line but Mickeys hand was cramping up and he was getting grouchy with sitting in one spot for too long.

 **DMR:** What did you do then at 17:00?

 **IG:** I had lost the itinerary and we had arrived late so going off my lousy memory it was either the petting farm or the hot dog stand. We were hungry so we decided to hit the hot dog stand next.

 **DMR:** What do you mean by ‘hit’?

 **IG:** We shoved hot dogs on buns and handed it out to the folks that wanted one.

 **DJN:** How long did you do this for?

 **IG:** I’m not sure, maybe two hours. It was hard keeping track of time because the line that had queued up for Mickeys autograph just followed him to the hot dog stand. I was handing him the hot dogs and he was allowing each fan to take a photo with him and the hot dog.

 **DJN:** In his interviews he comes across really abrasive but when a fan asks him to sign an autograph or take a selfie with them he doesn't seem to mind.

 **IG:** Uh, thanks?

 **DMR:** So, by your guess at 19:00 you would have finished serving and eating hotdogs?

 **IG:** About there

 **DMR:** What happened after that?

 **IG:** Umm, Mickey and I got into an argument.

 **DRM:** Are you willing to tell us what you argued about?

 **IG:** I guess.

 **DRM:** So, what did you argue about?

 **IG:** Umm, I’m not sure how to put it into words.

 **DJN:** Just try your best

 **IG:** Okay. Well I found out that it wasn’t just Iggy’s birthday, it was Mickey’s as well. Actually, it was Mandy's, Colin's and Jamie's too- but not really. See, you're looking at me like I'm simple but I don’t know how to say it.

 **DRM:** So who’s birthday was it again?

 **IG:** That’s the thing, it wasn’t any of the Milkovich's birthday that day. They just made it up.

 **DJN:** Like when a women gets asked her age and she gives them a number 10 years off her real one?

 **IG:** Kind of, I’ll try and describe the events so it makes more sense. After the hotdog stand we take a walk around the park, Mickey is stopped multiple times by fans wanting a hug or pose with him in a photo. I just stand to the side and wait, but then I overhear a fan wishing him happy birthday. I wait for him to correct her but he doesn't, he thanks her and signs a poster she’s got of him. I assume he’s being polite not correcting her. We’re standing by the petting farm fence throwing little pellets inot the chicken pen when Colin comes up and wishes Mickey happy birthday. The strangest thing was, Mickey wishes Colin happy birthday too.

 **DJN:** You didn’t know?

 **IG:** I didn’t know

 **DJN:** Do you need a tissue?

 **IG:** Nah

 **DMR:** So, Colin Milkovich is there with you and Mickey. It would be around…

 **IG:** Are you still worried about the time?

 **DMR:** Just trying to keep track of the events in a proper time line.

 **IG:** Maybe around 22:00

 **DMR:** So around 22:00 you find out that it was the Milkovich birthday but not really their birthday

 **IG:** Yes, when Colin leaves I'm standing there with a handful of pellets and decide to throw it at Mickey.

 **DMR:** You were angry at him, out to cause him harm?

 **IG:** I threw chicken pellets at him, how would that shit harm him?

 **DMR:** No need to get defensive. Please continue with the events, what happened after you threw the pellets at him?

 **IG:** Well, he turned and looked at me like I was insane. I asked him was it his birthday and he told me it wasn’t. He explained to me that his brothers, Mandy and he never knew their actual birthday so when they were little they decided to make it on the 15th of September, that way it was just one day and easier to remember than 5 different birth dates.

 **DJN:** Would you like that tissue now?

 **IG:** Yes please

 **DJN:** Here you go

 **DMR:** How did your react to Mickeys lie?

 **IG:** I don’t think it was really a lie.

 **DMR:** He didn’t tell you it was his birthday

 **IG:** Well, it really wasn’t his birthday. Have you been listening?

 **DMR:** But they celebrate it as their birthday. All the Milkovichs do.

 **IG:** Yeah, I guess?

 **DMR:** He kept this from you, you must of felt something.

 **IG:** Mickey’s not the type to share information. You’re implying that I may have been angry at him, I wasn’t, I'm not. If anything I'm angry at myself for not knowing his birth date or fake one for that matter. I picture them all as little kids having to celebrate the same date because their deadbeat dad never celebrated their real birthday with them. It made me feel aweful, useless even.

 **DJN:** Here’s another tissue

 **IG:** Thanks

 **DMR:** So you felt useless, what happened then?

 **IG:** I stormed off and left Mickey by the chicken pen. Haven’t seen him since.

 **DJN:** Do you think something has happened to him?

 **IG:** I don’t know, I’m worried but not too worried. The last time he went off to Africa and didn’t tell me. As hard as I try he’s difficult to pin down.

 **DMR:** Do his bothers or sister know where Mr Milkovich could be?

 **IG:** I'm pretty sure you know the answer to this, you interviewed them before me.

 **DMR:** I’d like to hear your point of view. Not what they say.

 **IG:** They got no clue where he is, they told me they don’t and I believe them.

 **DJN:** Ian, are you aware that all the Milkovich’s have a tendency to lie?

 **IG:** No shit

 **DJN:** We have seen every Milkovich in this room not just today or the past two days, they are in and out of here at least five times a month each for the last 4 years. Do you know what the public call this place? It's called the Milk Station.

 **IG:** Ahh, it's kind of catchy.

 **DMR:** Can we please stay on track. So you believe Mandy when she tells you she doesn't know where her brother is?

 **IG:** Well yeah, she’s my best friend.

 **DMR:** And you believe Colin, Iggy and Jamie too?

 **IG:** I guess.

 **DMR:** You guess?

 **IG:** Yeah, I guess. I mean I’m not close to them as I am with Mandy but they wouldn’t do anything to harm Mickey

 **DJN:** Ian, last month I had Colin in here for the usual monthly catch up. It's part of his community service that he come into the station, we ask him a few questions and he answers them, just small talk really.

 **IG:** Like the one we are having now?

 **DJN:** Yes. I’m telling you this so you can see the Milkovich’s from another point of view. I asked Colin if he has anything in his pockets, he tells me ‘no’. Of course we do a search of his pockets and do you know what he has? He’s got a packet of gum, a 10 dollar note, his keys and his mobile phone. That’s not it, I ask him what he’s eaten for breakfast, he tells me he had waffles. I show him a picture that he posted on his twitter account that same morning of him tweeting himself eating butter chicken for breakfast at the Indian takeaway shop across the road. What does that say about Colin to you?

 **IG:** Why would someone eat butter chicken for breakfast? Did it give him heartburn?

 **DJN:** You're missing the point. He’s a compulsive liar, I think all the Milkovich’s are. The stupid thing is, they lie unnecessarily. I mean having all those things in his pockets wouldn’t get him into trouble if he admitted to it or eating Indian for breakfast. It's as if they don’t know the meaning of truth.

 **IG:** Ahh, Miles would say that the truth is out there.

 **DJN:** Who is Miles?

 **IG:** Just some kid I know.

 **DMR:** Please, can I continue. So around 22:00 you are on your own, where do you go?

 **IG:** I’m with Mandy the entire night, we hang out for the fireworks that Jamie and Colin had set up. Of course the pair were taken down to the Milk Station shortly after the fireworks finish, you guys complained they had no permit or something. From then Mandy and I went back to the Milkovich house where I realise I haven’t seen Mickey in a while, it was maybe 01:00 the next day when I start looking for him.

 **DMR:** Where did you look for him?

 **IG:** The Milkovich house at first, it's really crowded so takes me over an hour to search it from one end to the other. When there is no sign of Mickey I take the keys to Mandy’s car thinking to go back to the Park to look for him.

 **DMR:** He wasn’t there?

 **IG:** No, park was empty.

 **DMR:** What did you do then?

 **IG:** I went back to the Milkovich house.

 **DMR:** You know what I don’t get?

 **IG:** Ahh, what?

 **DMR:** All 20 or so Milkovich’s have been in here over the last two days,but none of them or you are reporting he is missing yet all of you say that you haven’t seen him since the night of the birthday.

 **IG:**  You think we should report him as missing? Do you think he’s been kidnapped, held for ransom? Like someone may have put him down in a hole in some remote location that he can’t climb out of? Maybe he's screaming for help underneath a basement some sicko built that's soundproof and we can't hear him!

 **DJN:** God no, Mr Gallagher, Ian. Please calm down.

 **DMR:** Ian, there were protesters at the City Park. Is it possible Mickey had a disagreement with them?

 **IG:** It’s possible. Mickey isn't one to shy away from confrontation.

 **DMR:** So you admit to seeing the protesters in the park earlier that day?

 **IG:** Yeah, there were maybe a dozen of them. Some even had signs and where yelling stuff from across the street.

 **DJN:** What were they protesting?

 **IG:** Some homophobic shit.

 **DMR:** Did you see Mickey interact with any of them?

 **IG:** When we first arrived he stood on the pavement by the park and flipped them the bird while he had a smoke but that was it. Wasn’t any longer than five minutes tops.

 **DMR:** Did any of them stand out?

 **IG:** Now that you mention it, one man was yelling louder than the others. I think he was holding a sign ‘Immoral’, quite fat too I think.

 **DMR:** I’m glad you brought it up, that man you are referring to is Patrick Milligan, He’s got quite a following in his small church in New Orleans.

 **IG:** Oh?

 **DMR:** Mr Gallagher, do you know where we found Mr Milligan yesterday?

 **IG:** No?

 **DMR:** The house next to the Milkovich’s.

 **IG:** Huh

 **DMR:** That’s all you have to say?

 **IG:** What do you want me to say?

 **DMR:** Mr Gallagher, we left you last on our list so that we could look into you a bit further. The Milkovich’s we know rather well now, but this is your first time down at the station. Do you know what I found?

 **IG:** What?

 **DMR:** You’ve got quite a police record back in Chicago when you were in your teens. All your family members too, your dads got the longest record I’ve seen in all my years on the force.

 **IG:** Everyone in Southside has a record.

 **DMR:** Does everyone in Southside own the Church where Minister Patrick Milligan preaches his sermons?

 **IG:** What!? Mickey owns the Church?

 **DJN:** No, you do.

 **IG:** I own a Church of Homophobes?

 **DJN:** Well, I don’t think they call it that exactly.

 **DMR:** It’s actually the Uniting Church of New Orleans. They opened 2 months ago, seems someone wrote to the minister telling him he could use the Church as his own.

 **IG:** How can you know I own the church when I don’t even know?

 **DMR:** Well, I’ve got a copy of the deed here. This your name?

 **IG:** Huh, I guess it is. I own a fucking Church.

 **DMR:** As I was saying, the minister was found in a compromising position in the house next door. Don’t you think this was suspicious?

 **IG:** What compromising position?

 **DMR:** We can not disclose this information.

 **IG:** How can I draw a conclusion if it is suspicious or not without knowing the compromising position?

 **DJN:** He was found with one of his Church member in a compromising position, if you know what I mean.

 **DMR:** Detective Nguyen, please refrain from providing unnecessary information.

 **DJN:** Sorry

 **IG:** I am confused

 **DMR:** So, we have one Missing TV star and a Minister who was found in a compromising position. Does this not strike you as suspicious?

 **IG:** You think the Minister kidnapped Mickey and then had a compromising position with his church member?

 **DMR:** I don’t know what to think Mr Gallagher. Mr Milkovich is not here to explain anything and the Minister is in hospital getting skin graft and refuses to answer any questions.

 **IG:** Skin graft?

 **DJN:** Yeah, lots of it. The other guy too.

 **DMR:** Mr Gallagher, is there anything you can add to help us locate Mr Milkovich?

 **IG:** Ah, no.

 **DMR:** Nothing to add on Minister Patrick Milligan?

 **IG:** Not sure what I can add, didn’t even know I owned the Church and I only saw the Minister from a distance. Probably couldn’t spot him out from a crowd.

 **DMR:** Thank you Mr Gallagher, I think we will end the interview here. Please let it be recorded that this interview with Ian Clayton Gallagher ended at 13:16 17th of September.

End of Transcript

**XXX**

_2 hours ago_

Ian opens the boot to Iggy’s old Ford frowning, “Mickey, I’m going to the police station now so stop beating at the trunk like I kidnapped you”

“You have kidnapped me! Untie my fucking hands and legs Ian, I swear I'm going to fucking kill you!” Mickey growls.

“I’m serious Mickey, I’ll be gone for half an hour tops. I’ll park the car in the shade and leave the AC on, just quit kicking the boot or I'll get arrested”.

“Why are you going to the Milk Station?” Mickey asks

“Just a routine call. Mandy went yesterday”

“Fuck Ian, why?”

Ian grins down at Mickey, “They think you're missing”.

“What have you fucking done?”

“Ah, I’ll tell you later”, Ian replies.

“Mandy’s got a poker face, your face has freckles and can’t lie for shit” Mickey exclaims trying to throw his leg over the trunk lip.

Ian pushes Mickey back in rolling him on his back, “Well you better hope they don’t see through my shit because that means your gonna be stuck in this trunk for a long ass time”

"Ian, why the fuck am I even in the trunk?”

Ian looks down at him, leans in and gives Mickey a kiss, “Because I love you and I didn’t know it was your fake birthday. So Happy fucking Birthday”.

**XXX**

_Sometime in the early hours of the 16th of September_

“Iggy, Ian. What the fuck are you doing?” Mandy asks. Both Ian and Iggy jump at the same time and turn to look at her, she gives them an eye roll and points at the two unconscious men in the bathtub. “What the fuck is that?”

“I caught them trying to climb the fence from Bob’s old place” Iggy replies.

“Can we talk about this later, we need to get them in position” Ian says holding up the super glue tube in his hand.

“Shit, he’s right Mandy. Which position, Doggy or Missionary?”

Ian looks at the two men he had seen outside the Park holding protest signs and yelling shit about Mickey being Immoral and unclean. He had wanted to punch them but Mickey had held him back telling him they weren’t worth it. It was as if the fates didn’t agree with Mickey because Mickey had passed out from too much Jack Daniels before Iggy had spotted the two protesters trying to climb over the fence into the Milkovich property.

"Both on their backs, put the fat one underneath so he doesn't suffocate scarecrow” Ian says rearranging the body and squeezed a large amount of the glue onto the mans chest and stomach before indicating for Iggy to drop the other man on top, back first.

Mandy takes a step forward peering over their shoulder into the tub “That’s the Churchy man, always standing at the front of our house with a bunch of crazy people yelling shit”

"I think he's a minister” Iggy adds pinching the mans chubby face.

“Mandy, do you have your phone. Take a few photo’s of them please” Ian says stepping back to admire their handiwork.

“I don’t want naked Fugly looking men on my phone!”

“Come on Mands!” Iggy exclaims rearranging scarecrows arm so that it was bent back as if he fell asleep caressing the back of his lovers hair.


	12. Your driver license says you where born in 1876

  
IAN

“Seriously, what’s in Alberta?” Mickey asked.

Ian didn’t bother answering because he wasn’t sure what was in Alberta either besides the condo he rented yesterday on air BnB. From the moment he left the police station he drove them both directly to the airport then dragged a protesting Mickey onto a flight that was headed to Houston. There was a two hour lay over at Houston in where Mickey wouldn’t quit bitching about not knowing where they were going or the reason for it. Their destination was announced by the pilot when they were once again buckled in for the last leg of their flight.

Mickey was sitting beside him in business class looking at him as if he had lost his marbles, “Hey fuckhead, you gonna answer me?”.

Ian looked up from his fold out table that had all the contents of Mickeys wallet scattered out in front of him, “What? Why can’t you just sit there and enjoy the fact that you’re 40,000 feet up in the air. Go be in awe of what man has achieved or something”

He went back to ignoring Mickey to more important matters, learning everything about his dickhead boyfriend. Once he found out Mickey hadn’t ever celebrated his real birthdate he  realised his way of thinking was flawed. Asking Mickey, learning things about Mickey wasn’t prying, it was his duty. He was done with finding out things about Mickey the hard way, they were going to spend the next week secluded and by the end of the week he was going to know every detail of Mickey there was to know.

Ian picked up the drivers license, skimmed over Mickeys real name that matched the tattoo on his fingers. He raised an eyebrow at Mickey who had his arms folded still glaring at him, “Your driver license says you where born in 1876”.

“Yeah, well you seem to go for older men”, Mickey replied.

Ian struggled to hide the smile on his face, Mickey always had a smart mouth, he would never tire of how defensive his boyfriend was or how illegal the fucker would always be. “That’s okay, I already got your birthdate from the passport anyway”.

After Ian placed a few bank cards back into Mickeys wallet in no particular order he picked up an old photo examining it. Ian turned to look at Mickey who had gone silent, his faced now turned towards the window but arms remained crossed. Ian went back to the photo in his hand, it was a picture of him. He couldn’t remember it being taken but guessed he would have been around 16, he was wearing a grey handed down shirt from Lip. His hair was short and the little bit of background in the photo showed it was their spot under the bleachers. Ian rubbed his thumb over the creases on the photo as he calculated the picture would have been almost a decade old. He wondered how many times Mickey would have taken the photo out considering how worn it looked.

With an unsteady hand Ian carefully placed the photo back in the wallet, grabbed every other content that was still left on the table and shoved it back in as well. He placed Mickey’s wallet back in his jacket pocket, folded the table away and silently placed a hand on Mickeys thigh. Sure he still planned to find out everything about Mickey but not right now when he was so overwhelmed with emotion he could barely talk.

 

“We gotta take a photo, take off your cap so someone recognises you” Ian said as they made their way from Customs after landing.

“Why the fuck would I do that?” Mickey asked eyeing the people around him. Ian had shoved a cap low on Mickeys head from the moment they stepped into the New Orleans airport and Mickey had kept it on since then.

Ian plucked the cap off Mickeys head as he pulled out the phone from his back pocket, “We need to send a photo of you to the Milk Station so they don’t think you are missing”

"Who's fucking fault is it they think I'm missing?" Mickey replied frustrated.

People where now staring at Mickey, Ian only had to wait another few minutes before some fans mustered up the courage to approach them. A young girl with brown waivey hair and braces approached with her mother.

“Do you mind taking a photo with me Mickey?” The girl no more than 14 years of age asked.

Ian smiled when Mickey nodded placing an arm around the girls shoulder, “Sure, get your phone out. Ian will take the photo so your mom can be in the picture too”

After a few photo’s Ian handed the phone to the girl and asked her to take a photo of Mickey and him together, “Can you make sure you get the Edmonton arrival sign as well”

"Ahh sure, say ‘fuck u-up!’” The girl replied before she took the photo.

A few more fans came forward and they spent the the next hour taking photo’s. It was a first for Ian when he heard a fan ask Mickey if he didn’t mind standing out of the photo so that he was in it alone with a groux of teenagers.

“Okay put your cap back on, let’s get out of the airport” Ian said once it seemed getting through all the fans was not possible.

Ian hadn’t packed them any checked baggage so making their way out of the airport was easy, once they were out and queued up at the taxi stand Ian sent a photo of him and Mickey under the ‘Edmonton Airport- Arrivals’ sign to the New Orleans Police station Facebook account with the words: **Found the missing Milkovich safe and sound in Canada**

The taxi came and they slid into the back, Ian gave the address of the condo to the driver, “Ah, 83 avenue Edmonton”.

“Hey, aren’t you the guy in that watch ad?” The taxi driver asked turning around to get a better look at him.

Ian nodded, “Yeah, Tag Heuer”.

“Yeah, that’s the one!” The driver exclaimed as he pulled away from the curb.

“What's in Edmonton?” Mickey asked 15 minutes into the ride.

Ian rolled his head on the back of the headrest turning to face Mickey, “Fuck if I know. I saw it on a map yesterday while you were busy being tied up and decided we should go”.

“Jesus Ian, are you manic right now?” Mickey asked.

Ian rolled his eyes as Mickey placed the back of a hand on his forehead as if being manic could be read like a high temperature. “Very funny, not. If you must know, no I'm not manic right now”. Ian leaned over and gave Mickey a quick kiss on the lips before he could pull away knowing Mickey didn’t do PDA and added, “I’m just in fucking love”.

Mickey glanced at the back of the drivers head then back at him whispering, “That’s some really gay shit Ian”.

Ian smiled not bothering to reply. He stared out the window on Mickeys side, this way he had Mickey in his view as well as the sights of Edmonton.

XXX

  
The condo had a security gate that required a code which the owner had emailed to Ian the day before and the key to the condo was left with the neighbour who would be home when they arrived. Ian knocked on door 227, an elderly lady opened the door in her cotton nightgown with prints of pink cats.

“Ah, I’m Ian. Here to pick up the keys for next door”.

The lady smiled at him "Yes, I’ve been expecting you. Of course I didn’t know you would be so handsome or I would have put in my dentures”.

Ian ignored the snigger he heard from Mickey who was standing behind him, “Did we get you at a bad time? You look all ready for bed”.

  
“It’s four in the afternoon” Mickey whispered behind him.

Ian didn’t bother turning around instead he pushed Mickey further back with his left hand as the lady handed him a set of keys, “I leave my pyjamas on so I don’t have to change back into them. So much easier this way don’t you think?”.

“Ah, yeah” Ian replied not really wanting to have any thoughts about an 80 year old lady’s choice of clothing. “Thanks for the keys”.

Ian looked down as he felt something brush up against him, the fattest ginger cat he had ever seen was rubbing itself against his leg. He bent down and rubbed at its head and smiled when it purred at him.

“I think Mr Fitzgerald likes you”

“I like him too” Ian replied giving the cat one last rub before standing up.

“If you boys need anything just let me know”.

Ian thanked her one last time before he opened the door to 226 and led them in to the condo he rented off air BnB for the next 6 days. It was a two bedroom condo that was fully furnished, as requested the fridge was stocked with food and the place was immaculate.

“There’s a Safeway and liquor store a block over, other than that there’s no reason why we need to leave this complex” Ian said as he tracked Mickey walking through the rooms checking out the condo.

Mickey shrugged out of his jacket throwing it on the back of the couch, “We could have done the same shit in New Orleans”.

Ian leaned against the kitchen counter crossing his arms, “New Orlean’s your turf, here we’re on equal grounds”.

“What, this a war or something? What turf and war are you talking about?”

“Tell me about the Church I apparently bought” Ian asked. He watched the smirk on Mickey’s face and tried to hide his own grin. After the initial shock of finding out he owned a church he started to like the idea. He now spent many hours amusing himself by picturing Mickey go up in flames as he entered the Church.  
  
“That’s what this is about?” Mickey asked turning his back to him.

Mickey sat down on the couch kicking off his shoes and peeled off his socks. Ian pushed off the kitchen counter and went to sit besides Mickey, “It’s about a lot of things, like the church, your birthday and heck, what you actually do for a job”

“Fuck my life” Mickey groaned.

Ian smiled cupping a hand to Mickeys face bringing them both in closer together. Their lips only an inch a part, “It’s not that bad, some small talk yeah?”

“Small talk’s for pussies” Mickey replied moving that inch so their lips where touching.

Ian swiped his tongue over Mickeys lower lip before pulling back “Talk first”.

“Fine, but I'm taking off my shirt and jeans. Been in these clothes all day and we got nothing to even change into” Mickey replied standing up to pull off his T-shirt.

Ian watched as Mickey unbuckled his belt, push down the denim and stepped out of them. He shrugged and did the same, his shirt went into the pile of clothing and they sat on some strangers couch in their boxers.

“Tell me why you got another agent” Mickey demanded.

Ian hadn’t expected to be asked questions, wasn’t it meant to be the other way around? He licked his lips and answered truthfully, “You sent me to fucking Boise so you could look after my brother, I appreciate the gesture and all but fuck Mickey. Who’s to say you don’t pull that shit again?”

“Fine. Tell me why I still gotta wear this watch”

Ian placed the hand with the tattoo on Mickeys thigh, they both looked down at his inked hand, “So you know, however far you go I’m gonna find you”.

Ian’s breath caught when he saw Mickey harden through his cotton shorts. Why hadn’t he stopped Mickey from undressing, now he was going to have to try twice as hard to stay focused.

XXX

  
MICKEY

All he knew about Canada was that they had a leaf on their flag and free health care. He understood what Ian meant about New Orleans being his turf, knew Ian always felt a bit of an outsider there but didn’t know how to show Ian that he wasn’t. Maybe he would answer all of Ians questions if it helped him sleep at night, just not right now when they were both almost naked and Ian had his hand on his fucking leg.

“You all right there?” Mickey asked watching Ian’s face.

“Uh yeah” Ian replied clearing his throat.

Mickey waited for Ian to start up his questioning, when it didn’t come Mickey raised a brow at Ian, “Why don’t you come sit on my lap?”. He watched Ians red bows furrow at him and hid a smirk, god Ian was beautiful when he fought himself.

“I’m good here” Ian replied.

He shrugged laying his hand on top of Ian’s, when Ians breath hitched Mickey slowly dragged Ians hand closer to his groin until the side of Ian’s thumb brushed up against the base of his dick.

“Are you sure?” Mickey asked keeping his voice conversational even though he was now hard as stone.

Ian shook his head then nodded, “Yeah. Tell me about the church”.

“Come sit on my lap and I’ll tell you” Mickey baited. He hid his groan behind a cough as Ian moved in closer swinging one leg over him. Mickey widened his thighs until Ian butt was seated on the couch with only their legs over lapping, his feet planted on the floor while Ians legs where bent on either sides of his thighs.

“Tell me” Ian whispered placing both hands on his shoulders.

Mickey nodded, “It’s what you made from some of your photoshoots, you didn’t actually get swindled”

“So I've got more than the $700 in my account?” Ian asked.

Mickey nodded again watching as Ian took one hand off his shoulder to place it low on his stomach right above the elastic of his shorts. “Yeah, it’s in another account. Under your name”

“How is it you never work out but have this?” Ian asked. Mickey felt Ian take the other hand from his shoulder and watched Ians fingers run over the slight indentation of his abs.

“I eat healthy”, Mickey replied. It was a lie of course, Ian had taken to eating oatmeal for breakfast and cutting out carbs as well as sUgarit. To make up for it, Mickey was eating twice as much junk food considering he was now eating for the both of them. “When you buy a church and keep it as one it's tax free”.

“Huh?”

“I'm explaining why you bought the church” Mickey explained.

“Sure”

Ian hooked an index finger into the front of his shorts and was pulling it down so that Mickeys head was visible against his abs. They both groaned when Ian touched the exposed tip with a finger, Ian ran his finger over the purple head were Mickey was now leaking pre-cum.

“Fuck Ian” Mickey groaned as he ran a hand over his face covering his eyes, not able to  watch Ian bring the finger up to his mouth to taste the pre-cum.

“Hmm?” Ian asked. Mickey was sure Ian no longer knew what he was doing, he was now in his own world where the questions he wanted answered were forgotten. “Do you mind?”

Mickey shook his head placing both his hands at the back of Ians thighs as Ian pulled the front of his shorts lower until the elastic was pushed underneath his balls. He wanted to suggest they both get up and take of their shorts but one look at Ians face showed Ian was too far gone. He leaned further back into the couch until he was almost laying down and watched as Ian pulled back his own shorts so that Ians dick and balls where bare like his own. Ian shuffled up closer so that their balls rubbed together making Mickey groan briefly closing his eyes to the sensation. This was Ian’s favourite thing, having both their dicks rub together, Ian now had a hand around both their dicks slowly jacking them both off.

"Does this feel good?"Ian asked licking his lips eyes still downcast.

Mickey laughed gripping his hands tighter on Ians thighs, “Nah, feels like my worst nightmare”. His laughter turned into moan when Ian used his free hand to grab at his balls rolling them over in a firm grip.

“Nightmare huh?”

“Yeah, fucking terrible” Mickey goaded through a pant. Ian finally looked up at him, leaned in and kissed him open mouthed. All pretence left his body, Mickey pushed back into this kiss and slanted his mouth back over Ians running his tongue over Ians upper lip then lower one.

“This is my favourite” Ian said when he pulled back.

Mickey looked down at Ians hand that was still pumping them both in a slow rhythm “I know, we do this almost every fucking day”. Ian stopped the motion and ran a thumb over both their leaking cockhead, even with Ians bent head he knew what Ian was thinking. He had been in this position on their bed, couch and even on the kitchen floor many times with Ian on top of him and Ians grip on both their cocks, head bent in the same fashion.

"It's not possible" Mickey said licking his lips.

“I’ll do some yoga to increase my flexibility” Ian replied.

Mickey removed both hands from Ians thighs to run his hand through his hair leaving it folded at the back if his head, “Wouldn’t it be perverted?”

“Nothing about you and me could be perverted” Ian replied.

  
XXX

IAN

“Wake up” Ian said pulling the blanket off Mickey who was now laying spread out like a star fish.

"What? It's 7am” Mickey replied.

Ian rolled his eyes. They had been in Edmonton for two days just eating and watching TV, basically what they did in New Orleans. The reason why he chose this condo was that it had a swimming pool where Mickey could learn how to swim.

“Your teacher’s gonna be here soon” Ian said walking out of the bedroom.

“What fucking teacher?” Mickey shouted.

Ian turned in the doorway, “I can’t teach you how to swim, you half dressed does things to me. I hired you a swimming teacher, he’ll be here any minute so go put on your shorts”. Just as he finished his sentence the intercom buzzer went off. Ian went by the kitchen wall and picked up the handset, the intercom had a video feed and Ian studied the guy that was waiting to be buzzed up, he didn’t look gay but was quite good looking. Too good looking.

Ian pressed the speaker button "Sorry, we need to cancel the lessons. I’ll transfer the total cost of the 3 lessons to you anyway, just email me your account details”. Ian placed the handset back in its cradle and returned to the bedroom where Mickey was still in bed. “Change of plans. Let’s go to Safeway, we’ll get stuff and I’ll make you banana pancakes for breakfast while I'll eat goddamn egg whites. We can find you another swimming teacher for tomorrow”.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a boring ass chapter because the next one's gonna be rough.


	13. Too much love makes people soft

**Mickey**

Mickey checked the clock on the wall, it was 2:27am. Sure he was still awake watching CSI but that was besides the point. “What, you know what time it is?” Mickey said by way of answering his phone.

“Hello Mickey, It’s 9:27am here” English replied.

Mickey rolled his eyes pressing the volume down on the remote for the TV, “I’m not babysitting your kids again”.

“Please, my children would do a better job babysitting you. We have a problem, is Ian there with you?” English asked.

“Ian stepped out to get a midnight snack. He’s been addicted to the Tim Horton’s Ice Capp but secretly I think he’s down there stuffing his face with donuts behind my back” Mickey replied.

Ian had been gone almost an hour, how many donuts was he eating? Mickey could hear Ben in the background but couldn’t make out what he was saying, “What kind of problem?”.

“Go find him, don’t let him watch any TV, get on the internet or speak to anyone” English said his voice clipped.

Mickey removed his feet from the coffee table so he could sit up straight, “What’s wrong?”.

“Lots of things are wrong, for starters the porn is filmed off centre with terrible lighting. I have seen a lot of porn so when I tell you this was some amateur work you should believe me” English said. Mickey’s heart hammered in his chest from English’s random comment, he could hear muffled voices then English cursing.

Then Ben’s voice came on, “Mickey it’s Ben, there’s a porno that just came out this morning with Ian in it. Peyton came across it a few minutes ago, it will be all over the internet in a few hours”.

“Fuck!” Mickey stood up and ran to the door where and shoved his feet in not bothering with the laces. He picked up the keys and wallet before leaving the condo to head down to Tim Horton’s hoping to catch Ian either on the way home or still there eating donuts. At two in the morning the street was empty, the Tim Horton was only a block away standing out with its red sign and lit store. Mickey pushed the door open and stepped into the centre scanning for Ian, when he couldn’t see the familiar face he ran towards the bathrooms. The two male stalls proved empty so Mickey checked the female toilets next just in case. With no Ian in sight he went to the counter where two of the staff looked at him with wide eyes.

“Have you seen him?” Mickey asked.

The man with the Tim Horton apron on nodded pointing to the right, “He left ‘bout half an hour ago. Went right”. Mickey turned his head towards the TV screen that was hung on the wall, it was showing TMZ with the volume down. Mickey read the caption “ **Milkovich** **Boyfriend** **Cheats** ” along with an image of Ian bent over a table on side view naked, a man behind him naked also. Nothing was left to the imagination.

"Fuuuck!" Mickey swore as he turned to the door and pushed his way out of the Tim Horton. He ran down the street in the direction that the staff pointed but couldn't see any sign of Ian. Without knowing where he was going he became frustrated when he reached an intersection, what if he turned left and Ian had turned right? Mickey continued on straight running aimlessly while making sure to constantly check his surroundings.

He covered 15 blocks before the legs gave out, he leaned against a mailbox and bent his body in half both hands on his knees to catch his breath. Once he was able to breath and think clearly Mickey realised he should have gone back to the condo first. Wiping the sweat off his forehead he turned and ran the way he came retracing his steps to ensure he didn’t get lost trying to find the condo.

When he reached the condo Mickey pushed the door open, he was greeted to an empty room with the TV still on, just as he had left it an hour ago. Helpless Mickey turned and punched at the wall closest to him swearing when his hand went through the gyprock.

Mickeys phone rang again and this time when he checked the screen it was his sister. “Have you heard from Ian?” He asked not bothering to ask why she was calling.

“What? No, I just heard it from Iggy. Is Ian alright?” Mandy asked.

He rubbed the sore hand over his eyes, “I don’t even know where he fucking is!”

XXX

  
**Benjamin**

“I’ve asked Babushka and Enid to stay at the house to look after Molly. You’re booked on a flight to Alberta that leaves in four hours.” Ben said to Nik as he packed an overnight bag. Ben glanced at Nik when he didn’t get a reply or an objection like he thought would happen.

Nikolas was standing at the doorway, “I don’t want to go”.

Ben didn’t want Nik to go either. the last month since returning from Russia Nikolas had been acting different. Ben estimated that Nik had lost about 20 pounds and the idea of being separated from Nikolas right now made him sick in the stomach.

Ben dropped the shirt into the bag and went to stand beside Nikolas, he pulled Nikolas into a crushing hug. “I wish you would tell me what is wrong”.

“Not this again Benjamin!” Nikolas replied pulling away from him.

“You go to Canada. Bring back some maple syrup for Miles”.

“No, I’ve made other plans. Why have you stopped eating Nik, what happened in Russia that you’re hiding from me?” Ben asked. He had been asking this question repeatedly hoping just once Nikolas would tell him the truth.

“I don’t hide anything from you Benjamin, why are you so frustrating!”

Benjamin wiped the back of his hand over his eyes and moved back to the bed where Nik’s bag was half packed, “Peyton found the producer, he’s a nasty piece of work. I'm going to Siem Reap tomorrow”. Ben watched Nik’s eyes widen at his announcement only wishing he could enjoy surprising Nik but the circumstances didn’t allow it.

“No Benjamin, I forbid it!” Nikolas said stepping over to the bed. He started pulling out the clothing that was packed, “You are insane if you think I’ll let you go to that hell hole”.

Ben gave Nikolas a smile that didn’t hold any warmth “Oh, I’m not going alone. When you get to Canada you’re going to persuade Mickey to come with me, his flight leaves tomorrow. I’ll meet him at Heathrow and we’ll take a flight to Cambodia together”.

Ben watched Nikolas open and close his mouth a few times before Nik managed to form a coherent sentence.

“Why do we have to go anywhere for? They are old enough to deal with their own problems!”

Ben knew Nik would say something along those lines so he was more than ready “We’re going because you brought these boys into our lives and as much as you claim to not care about anyone but yourself you love them both as if they were your own flesh and blood”.

“I fucking killed my own flesh and blood if you remember!” Nik yelled hurling his toiletry bag at the wall.

Ben hadn’t planned for that, of all the things Nikolas could have said that wasn’t something Ben would ever imagined coming out of his mouth. This was an unspoken subject they never talked about and it just proved to Ben that something was really wrong with Nikolas. He sat on the bed and looked at the floor, all the fight he had in him drained out by the truth of Nikolas’s words.

“Ack Benjamin. You made me swear, you know how I hate it” Nik complained.

Nikolas swearing was the least of Ben's problems.

“I’m sorry about Stephen” Ben said softly. He couldn’t look at Nikolas so he kept his head cast eyes on the plush carpet under his feet.

“Benjamin, I did not say what I did to make you feel bad. I was angry yes, please can you look at me?”

Ben sighed and slowly turned to Nikolas who was looking at him with uncertainty, he wished he could redo the last 10 minutes. After all these years together they still had to dance around certain subjects. Sometimes Ben wondered if everything might implode one day, one would say something to the other that could not be forgiven and the world that they built together would be over.

“I’m sorry Nik. If you want us to stay here we will” Ben said. He leaned into Niks profile, “You will forever own me”.

Nik laughed rubbing at Ben's hair, “Ah Benjamin, how I wish that was still true. Somehow the tables have turned and it is you who owns me. I will go to Canada”.

Ben looked into Nikolas’s eyes, “And I can go to Siem Reap?”

“Bring cash. You will need to bribe a lot of people there to get what you want” Nikolas answered.

It wasn’t until Ben was driving back on the A377 after dropping Nik off at Exeter airport did he realise he had been made a fool of again. Nikolas had every intention of going to Canada, had only made a fuss because Ben had expected him to. He had been pestering Nikolas every day about his lack of appetite and why he was being less annoying than usual. Nikolas throwing the comment about Stephen earlier to make him feel bad was nothing more than subterfuge.

XXX

**Mickey**

“Just keep on driving” Mickey said to the cab driver.

He picked English up at the airport 15 minutes ago, they were both seated at the back of the cab that was aimlessly driving down every street in Edmonton in the middle of the day. Mickey’s eyes were dry from lack of sleep but he couldn’t bare to close them to blink let alone sleep just in case he missed seeing Ian walking down the side of the street. It had been almost 24 hours since he had last seen Ian and he was starting to panic. His mobile phone had over 200 miss calls because he couldn’t deal with Mandy's hysteria when he was bordering on insanity himself. He stopped checking any form of media, only taking updates from Peyton every 4 hours. Peyton was now keeping an eye on all Ian and his accounts on the off chance Ian made a purchase which would lead them to his whereabouts.

“We can drive around for another 2 hours then you need to get on a flight for Heathrow. Ben will be waiting for you there”.

Mickey didn’t remove his eyes from the street outside his window, “Why would I be going to Heathrow, is Ian in England?”. He knew Ian wasn’t in England because his passport was still in his backpack at the condo.

“Ben and Peyton located the person who gave the porn to the Media, you can ask Peyton on your next update”, English replied.

“How much money did he make off it?” Mickey asked already knowing it would be quite substantial. Colin and Jamie had been filmed breaking into an ice cream truck that had been parked in the City, they had been handing out free ice cream on the hot summer day to everyone who went by. That person had sold the clip to an entertainment magazine for 3 Million dollars while Jamie and Colin got some more community service and another fine. As for the owner of the ice cream van, he got free publicity so was more than happy about the whole ordeal.

“17 Million wired yesterday to the owner of Grey Matters studio, a man named Peter Drummond”.

Mickey turned in his seat so that he was now facing English, he had been busy with his own problems to actually notice the man who was sitting along side him. “You’ve lost a lot of weight”.

“How observant. It’s been a trying month for me, I don’t need you nagging me as well. I left my wife at home for a reason”.

Mickey frowned leaning in closer to English, the man was 6 foot four and had always been slim but built in the shoulders, now he looked gaunt and tired despite the suite he had on which was immaculate and probably more expensive than every piece of clothing Mickey owned put together.

"Ben worried?" Mickey asked uncertain about the conversation they were headed into. Their talks where usually when alcohol was flowing freely so this was strange for both of them. He could tell from the scrunched up face that English was giving him that English felt awkward too.

“Ben’s always worried. I wash the dishes, he gets worried. I take the dogs out for a walk and he asks me if I am sick”.

Mickey laughed surprising himself, “You wash dishes? I’d pay to see that”.

“Go to Cambodia Mickey. Find this Peter Drummond and make sure Benjamin doesn’t do anything rash”.

Mickey sighed, “I can’t, Ian’s out here somewhere. Maybe after I find him”.

“What will you do when you find him? Console him? What can you say or do that will make him understand that this porn thing is the smallest blip that could ever happen between the two of you?” English asked.

He didn’t know what he would say or do, but he had to try. What else was there for him to do?

“Trust me to find him and make him see some sense” English added.

Mickey rubbed his fist into his eyes, “How can I go to Cambodia when Ian is in Canada? What you are asking is fucking crazy”.

English shrugged, “Sometimes we are too close to see the big picture. Like with Phillip Gallagher, you didn’t let Ian deal with that because Ian wouldn’t have been capable to get through to Lip. Too much love makes people soft”

“So what, you just gonna shoot and stab some sense into Ian?”

XXX

**Nikolas**

Nikolas let himself into the Condo Ian had rented after the cab took Mickey to the airport. He helped himself to the packet of cigarette that was on the coffee table and brought out his phone opening up the web browser. A quick glance out the window showed night had fallen on the streets of Edmonton, it would be useless starting his search for Ian tonight. Nikolas did a search for the local liquor depot and found that it did delivery if you purchased more than $100 worth of alcohol. Nikolas scrolled through the many brands of Vodka they stocked until he found Stolichnaya Red Label. He purchased 7 bottles and left in the comment section for delivery that if they could deliver with the Vodka a carton of cigarettes he would throw in a thousand dollar tip.

Tonight he was no longer an ex English diplomat nor was he the Danish boy he was so long ago. Sometimes if it wasn’t for Benjamin he would have forgotten the name he was born with , Benjamin who drew the name with a finger on his back late at night when they were alone in bed together.

For the next few hours he was Russian, the part of him that he always fell back on, the part that he hated most about himself.

  
_To be all kinds of continued…_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Q: Why couldnt this chapter just be about Ian hiring a hairy ass man to teach Mickey how to swim?
> 
> A: Because it's Valentine's Day today in I'm morbid.


	14. Mad, you think I’m mad?

  
From Tim Horton’s Ian spent the early morning sitting in a park nearby before buying a ticket hended for Calgary on a Greyhound bus. With the four hours it took to get to Calgary Ian thought he would have found a way to deal with his latest fuck up, instead he spent the time crying at the back of the the empty bus until he fell asleep from exhaustion. The driver woke him up and pointed in the general direction of another bus depot where he got on another bus that had the sign ‘BANFF’. This bus was packed and Ian found himself next to a girl who was maybe a few years younger than himself. She had dressed in one of those puffy parkers that made people look twice the size they really were and had on fluffy pink ear muffs.

“Did you forget your jacket?”

Ian turned to the girl hoping she wouldn’t be one of those chatter box's that talked to strangers about everything under the sun. He took in her choice of clothing, pink parker, pink denim jeans and a pink furry bag to go with her pink ear muffs. She had a fresh girl next door look that clashed with a tattoo on the side of her neck behind her ear that read ‘I’m a star’, the star being an actual drawing of a black solid star hale an inch in size.

“Ah, yeah. Didn’t realise it would be so cold” Ian replied looking down at his own attire. He hadn’t packed any change of clothing for Mickey or himself so a jacket hadn’t even entered his thought. Ian wore his blue denim jeans, a long sleeve grey shirt and his Nike running shoes, defiantly not ideal for the Edmonton weather in September.

“Oh, you’re American. You’ll get use to Alberta soon enough, snows for like 8 months…” her sentence trailed off. Ian turned and sat back in his chair when she leaned into his personal space studying him as if he was an insect under a magnifying glass. He saw the recognition dawn on her face and dreaded what she would say next.

"Holy shit, you’re that guy that got fucked up the ass” she whispered.

Ian let out a shaky breath, was that who he was? Is that what Mickey would think of him?

“Are you ok, do you need a bag or something?” The girl asked.

Ian counted from twenty backwards until he reached one, then did it again until he was no longer hyperventilating. The girl who looked so innocent and annoying on first appearance was going to be his death. She was now leaning all the way into his personal space, her two ponytails hanging over her shoulders where now dangling over his right arm.

"Here have some gum".

Ian looked at the gum she held out to him. Needing the distraction he nodded at her gratefully, picked out the strip, unwrapped it and placed it into his mouth. If he hadn’t planned to throw up seconds ago, he was now. The gum had the most terrible flavour. He grimaced and continued to chew hoping the flavour would soon dissolve.

“It’s cinnamon flavour, awesome isn't it?”.

He nodded, “It’s uh, something”

She smiled at him, her hazel eyes laughing at him, “You don’t like it”.

Ian shook his head, “Nah, it just takes some getting use to”.

“If you need a place to crash my parents have a holiday house in Banff. Your’e welcome to come”.

He had heard Canadians where real friendly but inviting strangers home wasn’t normal, “Thanks for the offer but I don’t think I’d be great company”

"I’ll call my boyfriend and ask him to bring you a jacket and a beanie, it'll keep you warm and hopefully stop you from being so recognisable”. She made a pop with her gum, “My name’s Kirsty by the way”.

Despite her hair dangling over him and her choice of gum he was warming up to her, “Mine’s Ian”, he replied. Kirsty gave a small giggle and Ian found himself laughing along with her. “I guess you already knew that”.

“Hell yeah, Milkovich is my religion!”

Ian winced at the mention of Mickeys last name reminding him once gain that he had left Mickey back in Edmonton without a single word. Even if he wanted to, he couldn’t call Mickey, he didn’t have his phone on him and didn’t remember the mobile number by heart. What kind of a boyfriend was he that he didn’t know Mickey’s number? He bet if Mickey gave Kirsty his number she would have remembered it, maybe even have it tattooed next to the star on her neck.

Ian swallowed facing Kirsty again, “Who’s your favourite Milkovich?”.

“Colin, Jake, Iggy, Molly, Mandy, Blake, the two goth twins, that guys that’s always talking in monosyllable, Mickey and oh yeah the kid who loves heavy metal” Kirsty replied.

Ian looked at her to see if she was pulling his leg, after half a second she burst out laughing, she held both her ponytails in each of her hand as if they were paint brushes and flopped them on his chest.

“Just kidding. I stan Mickey Milkovich but don’t tell my boyfriend. He gets soooooo jealous when my girlfriends and I get together on Saturday nights to watch The Milkovich’s episode”.

He didn’t get it, how could she sit her and talk to him as if he was a good friend when she claimed to be a fan of Mickey. Shouldn't she be hating him right now for the porno that was now out there for the world to see?

It was as if she could read his mind because she looked at him in sympathy. “Hey, don’t be sad, I’m sure you’ve got a large fan base too. Just, it’s Mickey and every girl loves a bad boy”.

Ian nodded understanding but really not understanding, “As a fan of Mickey you’re not angry at me?”

“What the porn thing that’s been all over YouTube and Tumblr?” Kirsty asked.

Ian nodded holding back his need to ask how many hits the video had now on YouTube.

“Even I can tell that it’s a really old sex tape, probably done years ago” She patted his arm and continued. “You’re getting a lot of hate on twitter right now from Mickey fanatics but there are also a lot of people on your side. Do you want me to read some of the posts?”

Ian didn’t get a chance to respond to her question before she whipped out her phone and opened up her twitter app. He didn’t think he was ready to hear some of the comments but couldn’t bring himself to ask Kirsty not to read them because he secretly wanted to know, believed he might deserve some of the comments even.

“Here’s one from @MMilkovich: **How** **can anyone cheat on Mickey. Mickey deserves better than that wanna be model.** Oh this has 5698 likes by @milkies: **I’m fucking heartbroken for Mickey** **Milkovich** ”.

Ian turned towards the window staring out at the street feeling his heart breaking for Mickey as well. He could only vaguely remember doing a porno all those years ago, how was it something he could barely recall be the thing that ruins his whole life. Kirsty beside him was still readying twitter posts, most where of fans voicing their hatred for what he had done to Mickey, some where outright calling him an asshole that didn't deserve to breath the same air as their beloved Mickey Milkovich.

“Hey, here’s one from Team Ian. It's from @Iloveredheads **Have you not seen the way Ian looks at Mickey? The sun rises and sets with Mickey for him. That poor excuse of a porno is not where their relationship is NOW. Ian LOVES Mickey, you fucking Mickey stans are blind if you refuse to see it** ”

Kirsty thrust the phone into his face for him to see the twitter post she just read out to him, there is a picture at the bottom of the post taken from Iggy’s birthday. He was standing by the hot dog stand after handing Mickey a hot dog, Mickey is a foot away with a fan. What the twitter post was stating is clear from looking at the photo. He is looking at Mickey who was posing with a fan for a selfie together, unaware at that moment someone else was taking a photo of him looking at Mickey. Yeah it looked like he was in love with Mickey because he was in love with Mickey.

“What should I do?” Ian whispers eyes still on the image of Mickey on Kirsty’s phone.

“A grand gesture” Kirsty replied.

Ian looks up at her questioningly. “A what?”

“Something huge, you need to make a statement to win Mickey back”.

“A statement” he echoed as he drew a blank.

 

XXX

It turned out that the taxi they got in after landing in Cambodia wasn’t really a taxi and the driver wasn’t even really a driver. The man they would later on know as Mao had driven them through Siem Riep then proceeded to take them down an empty alleyway, asked them to step out of the car at gun point and tried to force them to hand over all their valuables. Before Mickey could say ‘Fuck off’, Ben disarmed their would be thief. Another ten minutes later the three of them had come to an agreement where they would all get back in the car, Mao would drop them at the hotel and return in four hours time with all the items on a list Ben had prepared earlier in Cambodian in exchange for a large wad of Cambodian Riel.

“Hey, did you know that Cambodia has one of the most landmines in the fucking world?” Mickey yelled as Ben drove the poor excuse of a car they had brought off Mao through a dirt field.

It was pitch black outside being a few minutes past midnight and Ben was driving the car without any headlights on. The rain hadn’t let up for the last 2 hours so Ben drove with his head stuck out the window because the car didn’t have any windscreen wipers.

“Yeah, Miles mentioned it. As long as tourist stay on the road path it should be safe” Ben yelled back at him.

Mickey rolled his eyes checking at the map again with a pen torch he was smart enough to buy at the airport earlier. He squinted at the road lines on the map between Siem Riep and their destination which he had marked with an X. In his opinion they were not driving on any road path but didn’t have the heart to mention it. From the moment he had met Ben in Heathrow he could feel something was off with the usually laid back movie actor. Judging by the items Ben had asked Mao to stock the boot with Mickey could only guess this was more than a little revenge for Ian. This was personal to Ben because Peter Drummond wasn’t only a has-been porn producer, he was the worst kind of scum possible. Peter Drummond from Peyton’s report labeled him a pedophile.

“Fucking step on it will ya” Mickey yelled so his voice could be heard above the downpour as he gave up on the map.

XXX

Ian frowned down at the sleeping form of Nikolas Mikkelsen also nicknamed as English by Mickey. The man had fallen asleep with a cigarette hanging from his mouth and half empty bottle of vodka still clutched in his right hand. As if sensing being watched Ian saw the first moments when English became aware that he wan’t alone in the condo. He watched English assess his surroundings, take in him standing there with the sunlight streaming in through the large windows.

labelling Ian as no real threat English leaned forward on the couch and stubbed the cigarette into the ashtray. “Ah, so the porn star has returned”.

Ian sighed not up to dealing with English when he was in one of his moods, “Where’s Mickey?”

English shrugged, “You left, so he left. Do you mind getting a new bottle of Vodka from the freezer on your way out?”

He definitely didn’t want to deal with English when he was talking so callously but thinking maybe he deserved it Ian didn’t move to the freezer. Instead he sat down on the couch beside English taking in the disheveled appearance. English still had on his suit pants but the jacket was now hanging over the sidearm of the couch and the first two top button of his dress shirt was undone. Ian counted five empty bottles of Vodka, two on the coffee table standing upright and another three that were on the floor by his feet.

It was as if he was a detective in the crime scene investigation show currently playing on the TV. From the surroundings he could tell English had been drinking on and off for nearly 24 hours straight, that he had smoked a carton of cigarettes and not eaten anything. The last he could tell because there was no dishes in the sink and English looked like he hadn’t eaten in months.

“Are you just going to stare at me all night?” English asked.

Ian took in a deep breath, “Listen, I get you’re mad but-“

“Mad, you think I’m mad?” English cut in looking at him disbelievingly.

Ian watched English unscrew the cap of the bottle of Vodka, brought it to his mouth and took a large swallow.

“Okay, you’re not mad” Ian replied sarcastically.

“You little shit, I could kill you with my index finger” English said

“I'm all over the fucking internet. Bent over, getting fucked by some guy that’s not Mickey. How can I explain this to him?” Ian cried finally voicing his fear out loud.

English shrugged casually all signs of him being drunk or hung over gone as if he hadn’t had a drop of alcohol ever in his life.

“You don’t have to, you never have to see Mickey again. That tattoo on your skin, I can pay to get it removed. You want a new identity? I can get you one within five hours”, English took another swig of vodka and continued before Ian could tell him to stop. “What will it take to eviscerate you from Mickey’s life?”

 

To be continued

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pleeeeease, you think a grand gesture was going to cut it?
> 
> Next chapter is going to be gory.


	15. I wasn’t a nurse you fuckwit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning Warning Warning  
> Violence  
> Death  
> Hint of child abuse
> 
> Maybe don't even read

  
**North of Siem Reap**

The resort was hard to locate if one didn’t know where they where going. Nestled away from Siem Reap it was a two hour drive on an unmarked road road only the locals dared to travel for fear of land mines and thieves. The five star resort backed up against dense vegetation in what the typical tourist would call a jungle, it was also the perfect hideaway for the rich and famous. The resort acted like a haven for those who were seeking shelter from their every day life. Currently there where all up 12 guests from around the world, each one with their own reason for laying low.  
Peyton gave an in depth report on each guest and dismissed 11 of them as irrelevant. Drugs, tax evasion and money laundering was a part of life, he found no reason to have Ben or Mickey worry about such trivial affairs. Only one guest would have their undivided attention.

The ex-porn producer had been living off his last thousand in Phnom Penh when he struck gold. A week before he planned to return to the United States he stumbled across a magazine stand that sold American tabloids for tourists. On the cover of one such tabloid was a picture of a very good looking couple. The female of the pair Peter knew recognised instantly as Mandy Milkovich, it was the male with red hair and an impeccable jawline that caused Peter some frustration. Being frugal with every dollar he could afford to spend Peter had stared at the cover for ten minutes then left with frustration. He wasted the next two days trying to rack out his brains on why the red headed young man named Ian Gallagher looked so familiar yet couldn’t place. On the third day he went back to the stand, purchased the tabloid and spent the next 24 hours in his small cramped hotel room going through all the films on his laptop that he made over his 4 years as a porn producer until he finally found the connection that would make him a millionaire overnight.  
Once the money was wired to his account he moved himself out of his rodent infested hotel room and into an exclusive resort a few hours from Siem Reap. Now he had all the means in the world to keep up his preferred life style.

Peter Drummond was woken by movement at his back and guessed it was Botum was once again trying to sneak out if his bed. He quickly rolled over grabbing onto the boys shoulder, digging his fingers into the bony collar bone until he heard a whimper of pain.

“I told you not to get out of bed when I am sleeping Botum” Peter hissed.

“You’ve got more pressing concerns to deal with than who’s not in your bed” A voice replied from the corner of the room.

Peter let go of Botum whipping his head around to the voice, it took him a few seconds until his eyes adjusted to the dark room. He made out the silhouette of a man sitting at the circular table positioned in the middle of the room. Even from just the silhouette he could tell he man was large, he also sounded British. Confusion quickly turned to anger, Peter flicked the blanket back and stood up from the bed. He pushed Botum out of the way and strode across the room so he could get a better look at his intruder. The door to his suite opened letting in a stream of light from the hallway that blinded him for a breif moment. He shielded one hand over his eyes so he could look at the second intruder who stepped over the threshold. Behind the man was a girl in the resort uniform of gold and black, she beckoned at Botum, her arm waiving madly and speaking in their tongue for the boy to hurry. Peter watched as Botum raced into her arms, he moved in pursuit angry that his property dare go against his demands only to be stopped by the figure at the door that moved to stand in his way.

XXX

Ben didn’t think he could hate the vile man any more but clearly he was wrong, as soon as he heard Peter call the small boy Botum Ben knew the night he planned for Peter was going to be an extra long one. Mickey paid off the staff at the resort while Ben entered the suite that belonged to Peter Drummond, he was just about to wake up the small boy to when the boy himself made a move to get out of the bed all on his own. 

“Botum is a girls name, means Princess” Ben stated, his voice lacked its usual warm cutting like glass across the room.

Mickey hearing what Ben said clocked the man across the head with the butt of his gun, “You fucking call that kid a Princess?”.

Peter’s head whipped with the force of the blow and he covered his head reddying for another blow, it didn’t come. With light coming through the doorway he recognised Mickey Milkovich despite the lowered cap and appearance, his voice was distinct, and if that wasn’t enough, anyone who got a good look at his fists wouldn’t be able to miss the tattoos across his fingers. By now Peter could only guess what kind of trouble he was in, Mickey Milkovich was here because of the porn he had handed over to the tabloids.

“Look, this has nothing to do with you. If you leave now I won’t call the police” Peter replied holding a hand to his forehead where there was now a gash that tricked blood down into his eye.

Ben stood up from the table, "I want you to scream as loud as you can Peter, scream until your voice is hoarse. When the light fades out of your eyes I’m going to enjoy you knowing no one came to your aid when you needed it most".

Ben stood up, hefted the bag Mao had placed in the boot of the car for him and lead the way out of the room with Peter stumbling behind.  Mickey took the rear, gun cocked nudging constantly at Peter’s when he tried to stop.

  
The resort was beautiful, decked out with expensive bronze and gold plated statues of deities. The flooring was made out of thick dark wood that mirrored the beams of the ceilings that intertwined with the tree limbs from the outside. Peyton was right about this place, every guest had reasons for being here and none wanted to get involved in someone else's problems. Peter screamed all the way through the resort, even banged his fist on some of the doors begging for help as Mickey pushed him forward. No one came to his aid. The staff Mickey paid off earlier were still around but stayed out of their way as Peter was lead out to the back area of the resort where there was a swimming pool and spa on the back wooden deck covered by a large pergola.

Mickey shoved Peter further until he stumbled down the stemps and out into the garden that led off to another pergola out at the edge of the resort. It was a smaller private pergola hidden behind large shrubs containing a table, two wooden chairs and a large incense burner that sat to one side.  
Mickey pushed Peter down on a chair going to work with the duct tape Ben handed him. He bound Peters hands behind his back and each of his legs to the chair. He left the mouth free of tape, as Ben stated, they wanted to hear Peter Drummond scream.

XXX

Ben dumped a handful of coal from the bag into the incense burner and spent the next 15 minutes lighting a fire strong enough to start them from heating up. Usually coal didn’t take so long to catch alight but the humidity of the place made it difficult. He could picture Nikolas handing out the worst kind of torture with no emotion showing on his face being all Spetsnaz, an elite military intelligence group formed before the KGB and a thousand times more lethal. Ben bet it didn't taken Nik more than 3 minutes to work the coal to the right heat but gave himself some leniency because he didn’t usually deliver torture that involved coal.

“Hey, I think the flames are high enough” Mickey said shaking him out he thought on Nikolas and all the forms of torture his partner had done that the British army would have been to squeamish to even think about let alone put into action.

Ben threw the branch he was using to fan the flames away and stepped up to stand in front of Peter Drummond. Ben spread the duffel bag open wide so that the tools he asked Mao to collect where all visible to their captive, slowly he put on a pair of latex gloves. Peter’s eyes bulged as he struggled in his bind, the blood still tricking down one eye. Ben brought out a knife 10 inches long and spent another 5 minutes sharpening the blade on a whetstone in front of the captive. He tested the sharpness of the blade on Peters nightshirt, cut it right off from neck to hem down the middle. When the blade met no resistance Ben cut at the sleeves until the whole shirt fell to the ground showing off Peter’s pale skin. Peter was an average man in his 50’s, skinny except for a protruding belly. He was already losing hair, having a comb over that did nothing to hide his baldness. Ben bent down and made quick work of Peter’s pants until the man was sitting in front of them bound in nothing but white briefs.

The first slice to the back of Peter’s left calf had him screaming so loud Mickey looked towards the Resort to see if anyone would rush out to see what was going on to cause such a blood curdling scream. Either the rain that started up again drowned out the screams or no one was curious enough to come to the back of the resort at 2am to investigate. Mickey turned back in time to watch Ben go to work on the second calf. The knife cut through the flesh as if Peter was made of butter, a strip of flesh and muscle two inches deep and three inches wide hung like flaps on the ground only held on by a small strip of skin at Peters ankles. Ben had cut off all the fleash from the calf as if Peter Drummond legs where fish being filleted.

It wasn’t until Ben went to work at the flesh at Peter’s chest did the man lose consciousness. He gave a small huff of exasperation, it wasn’t torture unless the victim was awake for the ordeal. How did Nikolas manage Ben wondered, it was a pity he didn’t have a satellite phone handy to call Nik to ask.

“Are you about done here?” Mickey asked.

Ben looked over at Mickey who was leaning against one of the wooden beams that formed part of the pergola. He forgot Mickey was there, stuck in his own thoughts when he started the first cut into Peters flesh.

“Just another five minutes” Ben replied dropping the knife back into the duffel bag.

He picked up pair of prongs and went over to the incense burner where the coals sat on top, now ashen red from the flames that where now burning low. Ben picked up a block of coal and went back to Peter Drummond, careful to not step in the pool of blood that now dripped between the wooden boars gaps. He tilted Peter’s head back and pried open the mouth, forcing it to stay open by squeezing the jaw together. Ben shoved in the hot coal as deep down Peters throat as he could and let Peter go, the unconscious man was now awake and thrashing around like he was on fire. The smell of the hot coal burning the inside of Peter's mouth made Ben want to gag but he didn’t move from his spot, instead he counted in his head wanting to know how long one could survive with a burning coal lodged down the throat so he could later discuss it with Nikolas.

XXX

Mickey could smell the burning flesh from where he was standing and drew out his gun, he fired the semi automatic weapon, emptying out the whole clip into Peter’s body.

“I wasn’t finished!” Ben exclaimed turning to him, his back towards the now lifeless body.

“Yeah well, I'm getting bitten by mosquitos. That fuckhead's not the only one dying of blood loss out here, time to fucking go”.

XXX

**Edmonton, Alberta**

“You’re not leaving?” Nikolas asked Ian.

Ian shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest. “No”.

Nikolas shrugged lighting up a cigarette then proceeded to pick at the cuticle on his left thumb nail until it bled. He admired his own stubbornness, considered it a trait that kept him alive when others in his position would have given up and let death take them away. Stubbornness as a trait on other people however was downright annoying.

“You could go back to Chicago and be a nurse again. If you go back to Southside Mickey won’t chase after you, it’s your safe-“

Nikolas didn’t get to finish his sentence, he had been prepared for Ian to strike him but the pain from the punch Ian landed across his cheekbone still hurt.

“I wasn’t a nurse you fuckwit!”, Ian yelled pulling his arm back ready to punch Nikolas again.

Years ago Nikolas had been injured in that exact same place, it was still a tender area but this time he wasn’t tied up to a shed so when Ians fist came at him a second time he was ready. Nikolas caught the fist with his own hand and twisted Ians arm behind his back pushing him forward on the couch until Ian tipped over kneeling on the wooden floor board. With his free hand Nikolas brought it to Ians head pushing it down so it was pressed on the flat surface of the coffee table.

“Before you took your first breath I was killing men twice as strong and deserving to live than you” Nikolas said. He dragged Ian back so that his windpipe lay at the sharp edge of the coffee table and pushed him against it. “I could crush your windpipe and throw your body into the lake three blocks over or you can use your right hand and indicate to me that you want to live. Then you are going to apologise for throwing the pathetic excuse of a punch”.

Ian’s stubbornness lasted over two minutes until the hand went up, Nikolas let Ian go and sat back on the couch as if nothing occurred. Ian didn’t apologise, he hadn’t really expected him to, instead he stood up rubbing at his throat and went to the fridge then came back with a bottle of Vodka from and threw it into his lap. That was all the apology he was going to get from Ian Gallagher over the punch, he took it by twisting the cap and taking a drink.

They sat in silence for over an hour until Nikolas could no longer stand the sniffling that started over 15 minutes ago. Ian was sitting less that an arms length away silently crying, occasionally wiping the tears and snot away with the back of his hand. Nikolas thought about inching himself further to his side of the couch to distance himself but stopped at the last second, berating himself for allowing his life to come to this.

He let out an exaggerated breath, leaned forward and picked up a black DVD case on the coffee table and flung it at Ian’s chest. “Enough, go get some tissues and blow your nose. Time we watched some porn, yours first, then mine”.

_To be continued_


	16. I was born without tear ducts

Ian’s hand trembled as he picked picked up the DVD case off his lap. It looked like a case you would buy at the dollar shop, black and nondescript. He let out a small sigh of relief thankful for small things, the fact that it wasn’t a standard released porn DVD that included a cover picture of him and whomever had fucked him five or so years ago.

“Where did you get this?” Ian asked his voice coming out squeaky as if he was yet to hit puberty.

The Englishman’s eyes lit up in amusement, “The Liquor Depot staff and I have an understanding. Stop stalling, go put the DVD in. I've seen it a few times already on Ben’s tablet so I can tell you now you need to watch it on a bigger screen”.

Ian didn’t want to ask but found himself doing so as he popped open DVD case, “Why?” .

“You can barely see anything with the tablet or phone. The larger the TV the larger the …” English’s sentence trailed off. Ian couldn’t believe the English wasn’t able to use the word ‘dick’ or ‘cock’. Ben told him once that English always refrained from using vulgar words and it would be very rare to see him swear.

“You get my meaning. I’m your first real audience, you need to impress me” English added..

Despite the situation Ian rolled his eyes, “Why the fuck do I need to impress you. Besides, I’m nine and a ha-“

“Please spare me measurements” English said interrupting him. He gestured with his hand to the entertainment unit where it housed a slim DVD player behind a glass panel, “It goes for 13 minutes and 18 seconds, let’s get this over with shall we?”.

Ian didn’t move, he didn’t think he had the guts to watch it and the thought of watching it with someone else made him break out in a sweat. Maybe he should watch the DVD with Mickey first. Soon as he finished that thought he dismissed it as one of the worst ideas he could ever make. Lip or Mandy might be the better choice.

“Let’s not watch it, you’ve seen it and I've seen more parts of it that I can take” Ian said not daring to look at English who he knew would be judging him and possibly labelled him spineless.

They sat in silence for what seemed to Ian like an hour, him looking at the TV which was on a real life crime channel. On the screen were police officers wheeling large barrels away, even without the volume Ian could guess there would be bodies in them.

He wiped his palms against his jeans, glanced to English who was looking at him, “I don’t really remember doing the porno. More than likely I was high and manic at the time, I think this was around the time I got diagnosed”.

“I was born without tear ducts so please save the sob story for someone else. Ben likes to cry like a girl, he even cried when King Kong died in that awful remake. Maybe save the sad face for him?” English replied.

“You’re a fucking bastard!” Ian yelled. He was furious that he was pouring out his heart to a man that didn't have one. English was as hollow as the Tin Man. He knew at the back of his mind what English was doing, he was being goaded into getting angry but couldn't stop the feeling. Ian popped the DVD out of the case stepping angrily over the the TV, he loaded the DVD. When he couldn’t find the DVD remote he pressed play from the DVD player itself and sat himself back on the lounge giving English a final glare before turning his face towards the TV.

Ian turned to English when he saw the man pressing at the buttons on the TV remote, “What the fuck now?”.

“I don’t know what channel to press to get to the DVD, Ben usually does all the domestic things at home” English replied as he stabbed at each Botton in an orderly fashion.

“Just give it here” Ian all but growled. He snatched the remote control out of the man’s hand and pressed the small icon on the top of the remote that was universal for ‘Source’. When the film flicked over younger Ian on screen was already naked and bent over a table. “Do you want the volume on too?” Ian asked allowing his anger to grow, finding it was an easier emotion to cope with than embarrassment.

“Leave it off but rewind it to the beginning” English replied.

“I think I was eighteen at the time. Is it even legal for you to watch this shit? You’re like what, 50?” Ian asked trying to fuel his anger. Maybe English would get angry too and crush his windpipe this time, it might be a kinder fate. Ian didn’t get the response he hoped for or expected from English, no violence and no embarrassment from the man twice his age.

English let out a chuckle, “That was a good one”.

Ian rolled his eyes not understanding the man. He pressed the rewind button on the remote until it faded to black, then took his finger off. With no volume the film was just a porno, Ian knew this one had some lame ass story line because the guy in the porn with him was speaking to him as he was being undressed. Ian made up the story in his head, the guy with the chiselled abs and blonde hair tied back in a man bun was a handy man. Ian was a teenage boy at home waiting for the handyman to come over to repair the…

Ian couldn’t do it, he couldn’t make up any story and couldn’t bare to watch it as the blonde haired man unbuckled 18 year old Ian’s jeans. He turned to English who had his eyes on the screen, “Does this shit turn you on?”

English didn’t bother taking his eyes off the screen, “Have you seen my Benjamin Rider?”.

Ian had. All the models in the world and their best physical attributes combined wouldn’t  stand a chance against Ben. He was that good looking, even Ian acknowledge this.

“If you can’t get through watching this porn than how can you call yourself a man?” English said quietly to him, eyes still on the screen.

He took a breath and settled back onto the lounge willing his body to relax despite the cold sweat he could feel on his brow. On screen he was now bent over that stupid table and the blonde man Ian guess was in his late twenties was pounding at him. The camera lighting was poor and the angle shot wasn’t the best, Ian and the guy where filmed on their side slightly at an angle from the front which meant most of the fucking from blondie couldn’t be seen. Only the action of the thrust gave an indication that his dick was up Ian’s ass.

Ian studied his face on the screen, he didn’t look like he was enjoying it much, kind of stoic if he was to be honest. 18 year old Ian had his hand wrapped around his dick and was jerking himself off as the man behind him kept at a steady pounding pace. It didn’t look like either of them where having a good time and none of them were bothering to fake it for the cameras.

Before Ian knew it the screen faded to black. Just like that the 13 minutes passed and Ian could breathe again. “We didn’t even cum?” Ian asked incredulous.

It was a rhetorical question but English answered anyway “One of the worst porn I have seen. I think it was filmed with a hand held camera, poor editing too”.

Ian tuned English out, the situation was still bad but he managed to survive watching the porn that only a few days ago he thought would be the end of him. There was still Mickey, his family and everyone else who might be judging him but somehow he felt as if he could face it all now. Maybe it had something to do with English, if it had been Mandy he would of had a shoulder to cry on. Instead he got Tin Man who apparently didn’t have a heart or tear ducts. Ian wondered for a brief moment what kind of upbringing Molly was getting by having English as a father. ‘ _Daddy, a boy pushed me over_ ’ Molly would say running in crying after playing outside. ‘ _Don’t_ _cry over such pointless matters Molly. Go push him back and while you are out go get me a packet of ciggarette'_ English would reply to his six year old daughter not bothering to care about her tear streaked face or the cut on her knee.

“Why are you smirking?” English asked him.

Ian schooled his features, turned to English “Just thinking of Molly, I got some questions for her next time she comes for a visit”.

“So you are back to your annoying self” English stasted.

English made a move to get up from the lounge but Ian stopped him, his hand going out straight in his path like a boom gate.

“Hold on, your turn” Ian said. It seemed the day was full of silent moments because Ian spent the next 10 minutes waiting for English to recall him promise about watching some porn that didn’t include a younger version of himself.

English finally spoke up, his voice low and barely audible. “I don’t think you really want to watch it, I may have used the word ‘porn’ loosely”.

Ian could see what English was doing, refused to take bait. He had to sit through his own version of hell and wasn’t about to let the man get away with it. “Does it have you naked and is there fucking?”. He waited a brief moment and got a small nod of accent from English. “Then it's porn. Where's the DVD, I’ll put it in the player”.

Ian leaned forward on the lounge looking across the coffee table for another DVD, when he didn’t find one he stood up intending to cross the room where he saw a small duffel bag. Before he could take a step in the bags direction English’s hand clasp his wrist causing to tip back into his spot on the lounge. Ian turned to English when a small USB stick was pressed into the palm of his hand. He raised an eyebrow at English when the man still held onto his wrist in a tight grip.

“If I let you watch this I want a promise from you” English said his voice still low.

Ian leaned in closer to English and fed the man back his very own line, “If you can’t get through watching this porn _English_ than how can you call yourself a man?”.

“Touché Gallagher” English replied his grip still on Ian’s wrists. “Promise me first”

Ian frowned, “Promise you what?”

“Two things. Never mention this” English tightened his grip on Ians wrist, the hand that held the USB to indicate ‘this’ meant the USB “To Ben. Secondly, you will never cry over your sex film again. If you can promise me this, you can watch what is on the USB”.

Ian nodded, “I promise”.

English let go of his hand, “Then put it on”.

The TV had three USB ports on the side and in less than 15 seconds Ian was back on the lounge with the TV volume still on mute. If he was asked what he thought would be on the USB Ian would of said from what English told him, a porn of English. Something embarrassing that he wouldn’t allow Ben to even know about, maybe English in his younger days liked a bit of leather or lace?

It turned out English was right, he used the term ‘porn’ loosely. It was so far from porn that Ian felt bile rise up in his mouth and turned alarmingly to the man beside him. “What the fuck is this?”

“This is me at Ten, I only look younger because I was small for my age”, English replied calmly his eyes didn’t meet Ian staying instead on the screen.

Ian didn’t want English watching the TV, he didn’t want to watch what was showing on the screen either. He picked up the bottle of vodka that he’d given to English hours ago and twisted off the cap. He hadn’t had a drink in years so for a split second he hesitated, bottle poised mid air in his hand. From the corner of his eye he could see a small boy laying in a single bed with the covers up around his chin eyes wide and afraid. Ian could see the resemblance to the boy and the man he was now looking at, the sandy coloured hair and that stubborn face. Ian saw the the same defiant eyes but on screen they were mixed with fear. The film abruptly changed, as if the clip was over and a new one started, the boy looked a few years older now and there were a few men in the picture, all naked and laughing. They were holding English down while he was struggling violently in their grip, he kicked out at one of the men who returned the favour by giving a closed fist slap across the boys face.

Ian lifted the bottle up and took a large swallow if the liquid. He expected the alcohol to burn down his throat and make his eyes water, instead it went down smoothly. Water, the bottle of vodka was filled with water.

He did’t get a chance to voice anything, demand to turn the TV off or why was there water in the bottle of Vodka because English turned to look at him. “Watch Ian, you are missing the best parts”. English took the bottle and cap out of his hand, placing both lid and bottle on the coffee table.

“I can’t watch this, we can’t watch this” Ian said. He could feel his eyes welling up with tears.

"Too late the turn back now. Come, no crying remember” English replied.

Ian turned back to the screen, English was maybe now 14. He was no longer fighting, seemed to be enjoying what was happening to him. The screen was filled with the same men in the last clip, all a bit older now, still as ruthless. Ian could also tell that the boy was high as a kite, a feral grin on his face as he was pushed face down onto the deck of a boat. Ian got up and ran to the bathroom, he made it to the toilet where he emptied out the crackers and chips he ate on the bus that Kirsty gave him.

When he got back to the living area he could see English managed to find the pause button on the remote. It was frozen at the image of a young English drinking from a bottle of champagne looking up at the sky. “You missed a few years, but I'm 16 here on a yacht celebrating Christmas with my father and his friends”.

Ian wanted to throw up again but swallowed the bile down, he moved towards the lounge and took the remote out of English’s hands. “We’re not watching this anymore, it’s not healthy for you”.

English pointed at the screen “This doesn’t faze me”.

“Well it fazes me!” Ian cried sitting down on the lounge beside the man.

“These things that try to break us can do so only if you let it”.

Ian was crying now, he wasn’t crying because of his porn so he wasn’t breaking the promised he made to English. Without thought he pulled English to him by the front of his shirt until he had English’s head wrapped in his arms against his chest. English was saying something to him but it was all muffled, Ian couldn’t have heard it anyway because his sobbing was now too loud. Ian wiped the back of his hand across his eyes then pointed the remote at the TV, pressing the red button that switched it off.

He was still crying with English’s head trapped against his chest when he heard the front door shut. With blurred vision Ian could make out Mickey and Ben standing by the front door both looking confused at the scene before them.

tbc

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For Nikolas who deserves happiness even when he's annoying as fuck.  
> And for Ian who will realise you shouldn't sweat the small stuff, and it's all small stuff baby.


	17. I was coming back

**Ian**

  
It was hard avoiding Ben's questioning glances when the kitchen wasn’t that large and even harder when they were both in it as they prepared lunch. He was going with _lunch_ because that was what he was currently making in front of the stove. At 2am he wasn’t quite sure what meal of the day they should be cooking so he and Ben decided on all three, breakfast, lunch and dinner. 

Ian once in a while left the stove to join Mickey and English who were seated at the dining table. Both were arguing over the best ways to remove landmines as they did research on Mickeys laptop. He winced at the photo’s on the screen that depicted kids with limbs missing from stepping on landmines.

"You know Cambodia has one of the highest-“ Ian started to say but was interrupted by all the other men in the Condo.

“We know, Miles already told us” They all chorused.

Ian shrugged and went back to the stove stirring the milk into the pasta. Even from the Kitchen he could hear Mickey telling English that the best way to get rid of landmines was to blow it up. English seemed to agree, proposing they get an armoured tank and drive through every inch of the country detonating mines.

Ben nudged him with a shoulder, “You really not gonna tell me what's with you and Nik?”

In the same hushed voice Ian replied with his head bent not able to look Ben in the eyes, “I can’t Ben. Please stop asking”. Ian got a nod from Ben but could see that he was hurt and felt bad so he added “He seems alright now, now that you’re back”.

Ben gave him a self depreciating smile, “Do you remember that time you called Nik and he fed you a line about being allies and you scoffed at it?”. Ian nodded recalling the phone conversation and Ben continued. “It finally happened”.

Ians mouth hung open, his eyes wide at the realisation that what Ben said might be true. “Fucking hell”, he whispered more to himself than to Ben.

“Hey foods ready” Ben yelled. “ Clear the table so we can eat, I’m starved!”

With the many dishes at the centre of the table all eyes were on English who sat there at the table with a pained expression on his face. Ian took in all the food they prepared, porridge still in the pot with a tea towel underneath so it wouldn’t leave a mark on the table, macaroni and cheese served in a large punchbowl he  found underneath the sink and then there was the baked fish Ben took out of the oven but left on the aluminium foil.

He saw English turn a pale colour as Ben pushed a bowl heaped with Macaroni and Cheese in front of him, “Eat or tell me what you and Ian are hiding”.

Ian turned away at the first sight of Ben’s eyes tearing up. It was hard seeing another man cry and Ian knew it was because English had picked up the fork and was stabbing at the pasta. Everyone around the table now knew that if English was willing to eat the Macaroni and cheese than the secret was bad. English hated carbs.

“Fuck man you both can sit there and cry like babies but I’m hungry” Mickey said breaking the awkwardness that formed while English chewed on the pasta. Mickey dragged the punch bowl in front of him and directly ate from it “This is good shit”.

Ian smiled at Mickey, he always knew how to lighten the mood. “Try the porridge. I made it”

"I ain't eating that glob” Mickey said around a mouthful.

Ian frowned down into his bowl of porridge. He squeezed a large quantity of maple syrup in and stirred it with his spoon “This is good for you. Helps with cholesterol”.

“Fuck Ian, I'm not 70 years old. Why am I worrying about cholesterol for?”

“Can everyone stop swearing please? I am trying to eat” English said politely as he put down his fork.

They all turned to him, all their eyes wide. He could see that Ben and Mickey were thinking the exact same thing as him. English so far had only eaten one piece of pasta and he had really dug around to find a piece that didn’t have any cheese coating it.

“I knew you wouldn’t eat the pasta, I got you some fish. You like fish” Ben said as he pushed away the bowl of pasta in front of English and replaced the area by dragging the foil that had the crumbed fish.

“That’s not fish” English replied.

Ian rolled his eyes as he scraped the spoon against his bowl cleaning it of porridge as if it was his last meal. “It's 94% fish, says it on the box”.

“If it’s on the box it must be true” Mickey piped in. He picked up a piece of fish and bit it in half “Not bad”.

“I do not believe fish come from a box nor do they swim around in rectangles” English muttered folding his arms on the table.

Ben picked up a fish stick and held it out to English “It’s a fish finger. Eat”

Ian held his breath and he could feel Mickey beside him doing the same. Ben was no longer joking over the matter, either English was going to eat the fish or Ben was going to force it down English’s throat for him. Ian looked at the digital display on his watch, it took four minutes before English plucked the rectangle fish out of Ben's thumb and index finger. He ate it slowly and swallowed and did so again until the fish finger was gone only to have it replaced by another one that Ben waved in front of his face.

  
XXX

**Mickey**

  
Mickey sat with his back leaning against the wall out on the condo balcony with Ian sitting between his legs. They were seated chest to back with his arms wrapped around Ian and a blanket enveloping them both as they watched the sky turn from dark to light with the sunrise.

“English is really unstable”

Mickey leaned forward kissing the top of Ians head and thought about Ben back in Cambodia sharpening the knife in front of Peter, “Ben’s not so sound himself”.

He rubbed his nose into Ians hair enjoying the cold air on his face and the warmth generated from having Ian against his chest. He thought about buying the Condo off the owner so that Ian would have a place he felt comfortable in. They could even stay in Edmonton until the heat from the porno died down.

“I was coming back” Ian said, his voice was so soft Mickey almost missed it.

Mickey leaned down so that his mouth was close to Ians ear “I know, I just wished you didn’t feel the need to go in the first place. Don’t know how to show you that shit means nothing”

“Did I do that porno when we were together?” Ian asked.

Mickey winced at the question, wasn’t sure if they had been or not. Their relationship wasn’t some fairytale and he was fine with that. He answered truthfully, “I don’t know Ian. You weren’t on your meds at the time and I wasn’t the best care taker, it wasn’t as if we ever declared ourselves exclusive at that time in our lives”

"You're not disappointed in me?”

Mickey took out his hands out from underneath Ians shirt and wrapped them around his waist, “You and the word ‘disappointed’ could never be in the same sentance”.

  
XXX

  
**6 hours later**

Phone call between Mickey and Rob

 **MICKEY** : Yeah?

 **ROB** : It’s me Rob, Ian’s agent

 **MICKEY** : Believe it or not I have caller ID and I’ve programmed my phone with your number as ‘ROB AGENT IAN’. So yeah, I know who you are.

 **ROB** : Oh, well I just got off the phone with Ian. He wants me to call Trojan and set up a meeting with them.

 **MICKEY** : Trojan as in the Greek horse or the condoms?

 **ROB** : Ah, I think the condoms. And I think he knows I work for you.

 **MICKEY** : What the fuck?

 **ROB** : Is he there with you now?

 **MICKEY** : No, he went to Tim Hortons. Wanted to apologise to the staff there for ordering shit then running off the other day.

 **ROB** : Oh, well. Do I set up the meeting for him then?

 **MICKEY** : Let’s go back to you telling me he knows you work for me.

 **ROB** : He wanted me to pass on a message to you

 **MICKEY** : You gonna keep me fucking hanging? What’s the fucking message?

 **ROB** : Let me get it. It was long so I wrote it down. Here, message was _Donuts taste so good. I want to do an ad for Trojan, so have Rob make it happen. I’ll be home in 10 minutes and will bring you back two chocolate donuts and an Ice cap._

 **MICKEY** : The fucking wanker!

XXX

 **3 hours after** **that**

A phone call between Mandy and Ian

 **MANDY** : Fuck Ian. I’ve been worried about you

 **IAN** : Hey Mands

 **MANDY** : You with Mickey, laying low?

 **IAN** : Yeah, still in Canada

 **MANDY** : How’s Mickey?

 **IAN** : He’s sleeping right now. All the traveling makes him grouchy, he’s all confused with the time zones it’s kinda cute

 **MANDY** : Yeah if you think a rabid pitbull is cute.

 **The IAN** : Mandy, I need a favour

 **MANDY** : Anything

 **IAN** : You’re still filming for another week right?

 **MANDY** : Yeah, what are you thinking?

 **IAN** : Statement and Grand gestures. I want you to interview me on your show.

 **MANDY** : I don’t think it’s a good idea Ian. As much of an ass my brother is the fans really love Mickey. I’ve got girls and guys camped out the front of the house right now crying day and night. They’re offering to be with him and mend his broken heart. You’ll get crucified.

 **IAN** : I don’t care Mandy

 **MANDY** : Fuck, Mickey’s gonna kill us both

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gallavich will rise <3


	18. Fuck, don’t give it to me gay

It was hard pretending the camera crew weren’t there when the room was full of them. He was seated on the lounge in the den of the Milkovich house with Mandy sitting adjacent to him on a leather armchair. Ian counted 12 camera crew that included lighting and sound technicians, they’d also set up a large TV on a stand which showed everything the camera was picking up.

The den was on the lower level of The Milkovich three story house and used mostly for gaming. He’d been down here a handful of times with Mickey and his brothers playing Gears of War, usually dying in the first 5 minutes because the Milkovich's where competitive assholes who where all trigger happy.

“Ready in five”, A man said from behind a camera.

"Don’t be nervous”, Mandy said waiving a hand at the camera’s and lighting equipment.

Ian nervously rubbed sweaty palms on the sides of his chinos, “This is nothing like an Ad shoot”

“It’s the same only you have to sit still longer” Mandy said while she fixed her bangs. “How’d you manage to keep this from Mickey?”

Ian grinned remembering, “I threw his phone out the cab window when he started arguing with the Cabbie about which route to take when we landed. There’s also no internet at home because I unplugged the modem and threw it into the swamp. The TV was easy, just hid the remote. No one knows how to turn on a television without the remote these days.”

Mandy laughed “No phone, TV and internet?”

Ian leaned back shaking his head thinking back to yesterday, “It's actually harder for me than Mickey. Give him a few guns, huge amounts of ammo and he’s good for at least sun up ‘til sun down.”

“Tell me where Mickey is now”, Mandy asks.

Ian frowns and turns to the TV screen slightly over her shoulder. He looks at himself on the TV, at the bottom left hand corner of the screen it has the word ‘LIVE’.

“Ah, he’s …he’s”, Ian licks his lips. “Shit Mandy, we’re filming already?”

“Hey, you were doing fine. Just pretend it’s just you and me”, Mandy encourages.

Ian turns back to Mandy and nods taking in a deep breath, “What was your question?”

“Where’s Mickey now?”

“At home”, Ian turns to the camera’s then quickly back to Mandy. “I told him I was going to pick up some dinner, I untied the JetSki letting them drift off so he couldn’t come looking.”

“Do you think he’ll forgive you for this?” Mandy asks her gaze on him, never once being distracted by the camera’s or the heat from the lighting.

Ian gives a small shrug not sure how Mickey would react once he found out Mandy had managed to get the producers agree to a Live Milkovich episode. He understood that Mandy had to sign a statement that she would be responsible for any legal action taken against the show by Mickey.

“So, why did you want this interview? Anyone in your shoes would be in hiding until this whole thing blows over, it’s been less than a week-“

Both Mandy and Ian turn their head towards the door, the crew included when a loud pounding at the Den door interrupts Mandy's question to Ian.

“Yo Mando! I need to use the toilet!” Iggy can be heard yelling from the other side of the door.

“Fucking asshole” Mandy yells back from her chair, “There’s three other bathrooms upstairs.”

Ian feels his stomach cramp up, the last thing he needs is Iggy barging in. He looks at the camera crew who all have large grins on their faces, the camera’s now angled to include him, Mandy and the door where they knew Iggy was behind. He put his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands when he heard Colin's voice along with more pounding.

“Mands, where’s the camera crew? There’s a huge motherfucking huntsman spider in the bathroom, I want them to film it!”

Mandy turns to the camera smiling “My mom must have dropped Colin and Iggy head first when they were babies”. Ian watches as she turns back to the door her voice loud enough to carry down the street “Go away!”

“Hey Mando, are you hogging our air time? That’s.not.fair!” Iggy yells in between thumping at the door.

Mandy got up from the chair stomping over to the door, “How many times do I have to tell you not to call me Mando!”

Ian starts laughing into his hands, even at times like this Mickey’s brothers crack him up.

“Colin’s gone to get the chainsaw Mandy!” A third voice yells, Ian recognised it as Jamie.

Ian got up from the couch to go stand beside Mandy who was now leaning with her back against the wall. They both looked at one another when the sound of a motor starts, he thought it sounded like a lawnmower but knew it was probably the chainsaw Jamie said Colin went to get. At the first sound of the vibration they both leap back as the chainsaw started cutting through the door. A jagged triangle shape was cut and bits of wooden splinters flew at them when Colin's foot kicked through the door, a moment later his foot was removed and a head pokes through the hole.

“Hey, open the door!” Colin yells.

Ian sighs, moves to open the lock on the handle.

“No way Ian, they’re gonna fuck everything up. You’re nervous now with the interview, if you add dumb, dumber and dumbest to the mix it’ll ruin everything.”

Ian agreed with Mandy but they didn’t have a choice because it was impossible to keep them out much longer.The last thing they all needed was Colin bringing dynamite sticks out to blow up the remaining door. Maybe the brothers were what he and Mandy needed anyway, the whole idea of doing this interview was to show that he had the balls to face his mistakes, if he couldn’t handle a few Milkovich’s what chance did he have with the Mickey Milkovich fans that wanted his head on a spike?

“I got this Mandy” Ian says as he unlocks the door.

All three bothers rush in as if they were about to put out a fire, they look around the den and turn accusingly at Mandy.

“Fuck Mandy, this is Live!” Colin says.

“Ian you’re here. How’d you get in the house without us knowing?” Jamie asks.

Iggy grins and slaps him on the back “Bro, I saw your porno. Was fucking lame. Give me girl on girl any day”.

Ian ignores all of them and sits back on the couch trying to pretend the interruption wasn’t rattling him. Nothing was going to plan but he should have anticipated this. It was the Milkovich house, there was a reason why it was the highest viewed show despite being on their fifth year. Chaotic was the norm in this house.

“What’s going on? Give it to me straight. Or gay. Fuck, don’t give it to me gay, keep that shit for Mickey” Colin says as he sits down on the lounge next to him.

Jamie joins them on the lounge followed by Iggy. Mandy throws her hands in the air before sitting back down on the arm chair facing all four of them.

“Hey, can we get a microphone wire thingy too please?” Iggy asks pointing to his basketball shirt indicating that it was microphone-less.

Ian takes in the three Milkovich brothers, they were all in basketball uniform. He wanted to ask them if they were playing for a team but thought better of it, the idea that they were playing a team sport was ludicrous. He waits as all three brothers were clipped with a microphone.

“Shit Mando, did you write these questions? Are you interviewing Gallagher with notes? How much air time we got left?”, Iggy asks flicking though small note cards that Mandy left on the coffee table.

“Too many questions fuckhead!”, Colin says as he pushes Jamie forward so he could lean over and slap Iggy across the back of the head.

“What? Thou shalt not read in the Milkovich house!” Iggy argues trying to slap him back but accidentally elbows Jamie in the eye instead which causes some pushing and shoving between the three.

“Listen, you want an interview you got an interview. I've watched Anchorman at least 15 times, I mean, Mandy's good an all but she’s like your number one fan. You want someone who’s neutral, like Switzerland. That’s me” Iggy ends the words by winking into the camera which is reflected onto the TV a nanosecond later.

“You’re not neutral. Switzerland doesn't go around beating kids up for their lunch money”, Ian replies remembering the many time when both Iggy and Colin beat him up in grade school.

Colin laughs, “Shit, you never had money anyway. Just those sandwiches that your sister use to make with baloney. Fuckin’ tasted awful”.

"So Ian Gallagher, tell us why we’re all here tonight on this lovely evening. What do you hope to get out of this interview?” Jamie asks.

Ian winced, even to his ear that sounded lame and it was the closest to an interview question he had in the last ten minutes before the Milkovich boys came through the door. He wanted to do this interview to show Mickey he was over being embarrassed and ashamed of the porno. Some time between the bus ride headed to Banff sitting beside Kirsty and sitting on the couch with English he had realised how insignificant that porno really was.

Ian sighed turning to Mandy as if she had asked him the question, “I didn’t want to hide behind Mickey. He’s getting a lot of slack from fans and the Media and it's not fair on him”

Iggy frowns leaning forward once again so he can see past Colin and Jamie, “Mickey doesn't care about what people think.”

He catches Mandy’s eye roll and realises maybe Iggy was right. Mandy doing the interview would be biased, she was his best friend, even wrote up a script when it was true that the Milkovich’s don’t do scripts. He’d even heard Mickey say it in an interview once.

“He doesn't care, but I do. I don’t want anyone thinking bad of him because of his choice to stay with me”, Ian replies truthfully. “I get that people are mad at me for being in that porno, I mean I’m even mad at me.”

“Someone on twitter asked why he’s so pussy whipped by you. I mean, neither you or Mickey have a pussy so it’s put really fucked up images in my head.” Iggy says and Mandy rolls her eyes again at her brother's asinine comment.

“That porno was old, probably five years ago?”, Jamie asks.

Ian sighs in relief, “Nine I think. I was maybe eighteen of the time, kind of a mess back then.”

“By mess you mean bipolar?” Iggy quips.

Any relief he felt dissipated, he hadn’t expected his illness to be brought up. Mandy wouldn’t have mentioned it but unlike her the brothers had no filter.

“Yeah, I was diagnosed around that time”.

“So on the scale of One to Ten of things you’ve done that hurt my brother, Ten being the worst, where does the porno sit?” Colin asks.

Ian swallows and looks at Mandy, she winces at him but can’t help. He had wanted to do this Live, didn’t realise what this would entail, “Maybe a five or six?”

He bet everyone who was watching this live knew what Colin’s next question would be because they all would of had the same question on their mind. Just because he expected it didn't mean it didn't make him feel sick.

“So what’s the Ten?” Colin asks.

Ian heard the question and took his time to answer, tried to find the right words. Instead of looking at any of the Milkovich siblings he glanced down at his hands that were on his lap in fists.  
He studied the ink that ran across his fingers and hoped his voice didn't waiver, “Ten being the one time I visited Mickey in prison. Not Juvie that he was always in and out of but the one that had him in orange.”

“I thought Ten was gonna be you getting him shot at the Kash n Grab” Iggy says with a grin.

He doesn't look up, still staring at his fists, “We don’t talk about it, Mickey and I. We don’t talk about the time when he got sentenced to eight years in prison or that I wouldn’t go visit him”. The room is quiet except for someone far off saying ‘fuck’ in a hushed voice. Ian guessed it was one of the camera crew and understood the sentiment.

“I went though. Two months after and only because I was paid 50 bucks to go” Ian looked up at Iggy, “Can you believe that, your brother that I loved since I was 15 meant nothing more to me than a few dollars?”

There was a long silence and Iggy cleared his throat, “Was that all you or your bipolar shit?”

“What’s the difference, I am my bipolar shit. I can make excuses that it wasn’t me because I was really sick back then but that doesn't change the fact that I treated Mickey bad”. Ian rubs the palms of his hand over both eyes then looks back at Iggy, “That’s my Ten. Mickey might have something else as the Ten. I don’t know, like I said, we don’t talk about these things.”

“I’m really confused. So why are we doing this interview? So people will hate you even more because I’m seeing that’s what will happen. Feeling it myself right now”, Jamie says frowning at him.

Ian turns to stare into the camera, "I want everyone to know that I’m not giving Mickey up, not for the things I’ve done in the past that I can’t change. He’s it for me and either you all forgive me or you don’t but I know Mickey is going to be by my side like he’s always been.”

 **Three hours later**  
Ian found his way to the bedroom which wasn't hard because the hallway light was still on. He opened the bedroom door and shut it behind him taking a moment to let his eyes adjust to the darkness of the room. When Ian could make out the lump on the left side of the bed he let out an exhale and started to undress. Mickey must have turned up the AC because the house was bordering on freezing. Pulling off his shirt Ian went around to his side of the bed and pulled back the covers butt naked shivering as he did so. When Mickey didn't move Ian crawled into bed and settled in so that his length was curled up against Mickey.

Mickey didn't turn over but lifted his head, Ian instantly moved his arm sliding it underneath so Mickey could lay back down and use his arm as a pillow. With his free hand he wrapped it around Mickey, splaying his hand on Mickeys chest to ground them both together further.

“I know how to turn the TV on without the remote”, Mickey said with no sleep in his voice.

Ian smiled into Mickeys hair as he tangled their legs together, “Do you know how to configure the modem and program a new phone with all your old contacts too?”

Mickey didn't answer his question, not the one he just asked anyway.

“Ten being the time you worked at the Kash n Grab. I came in and you were all out of barbecue Pringles.”


	19. Jesus Christ, it's just takeaway!

**Ian**  
Ian watched Mickey take another bite out of the doner kebab they bought earlier from the downtown All-Night-Long takeaway store while wondering when they were going to discuss the object that held Mickeys attention. For the third night in a row they were out in town at 2AM sitting a on metal bench eating fast food. Not a soul was in sight except the occasion hoon driving by in their car.

“You better eat yours before it gets cold” Mickey suggested.

Ian looked down at the foam container in his hands, “They didn’t give me a fork”. He opened his box and stared at the order of mixed meat, pickled vegetables and a rolled up piece of Lebanese bread wishing he’d chosen a doner kebab like Mickeys.

“I fuckin’ told you when you ordered the damn thing it would be a mistake!” Mickey replied as he chewed.

He made a dramatic sigh hating when Mickey was right, knew he was when Mickey said it 10 minutes ago when the order left his mouth. By then of course it was too late, changing his order would reaffirm Mickey was right and that just wouldn’t do. Ian picked up a falafel inspecting its odd shape before biting into it. While he chewed Ian stared across the street up at the large billboard from where they sat. The billboard, the object of Mickeys fascination was erected above a building making it higher that all the surrounding structures. It overlooked the T-intersection of the street and the riverwalk making it a focal point in every direction.

Ian picked up a sliver of meat not even bothering to make out if it was lamb, chicken or beef and used it as a tool to point at the billboard. “When are you gonna stop dragging us out here to look at that?”

Mickey didn’t bother to turn to him, “When I figure out how they got your ass to look so smooth”

Ian groaned studying the picture on the billboard that had been plastered on three days ago replacing a Nutella advertisement. The Trojan ad required one days photoshoot and a week later it was in magazines and on the sides of buses. The photo was of his backside, from head to toe naked with a background so dark you couldn’t make anything out about the surroundings. In the Ad there was nothing but Ian holding one gold packet Magnum condom in his right hand that hung casually by his side the branded logo of Trojan only partially visible, artful they claimed. The billboard was his special project, he personally paid for the rental on it, paid for the Trojan ad to be plastered. Just another way to show Mickey he was no longer concerned about the porno that had gone viral or what anyone said about him.

Ian squinted at the board, “What do you mean?”

“Did they photoshop it?” Mickey asked his own question instead.

“What?”, He gave up on trying to eat his mixed kebab order and placed the container on the ground by his feet, he picked up the can of A&W root beer that came with his order.

“Your ass isn't that smooth man, you got some fuzz on yours. Looks like you’ve been waxed or photoshopped. Which is it?”

Ian chugged back the root beer and gave Mickey a suspicious sideward glance. He wasn’t sure if Mickey was just being annoying or serious, Mickey couldn’t really think he would let someone wax his butt cheeks would he?

“Fuck off, that’s all me” Ian replied after a loud burp.

Mickey laughed, “Maybe you got a butt double”

“Yeah whatever, are we done here? We have get up early, you gotta open my Crisis Centre and I’m off to my therapy session” Ian said hotly not impressed with the butt double comment.

“I don’t get why I have to open your Crisis Centre, you want to convert your Church into a fucking sob story you do it yourself”

Ian felt around Mickeys pocket for a cigarette pack he always carried, taking out a cigarette he put it between his lips and took a small drag just enough to light it then placed the cigarette between Mickeys lips.

“Funny how it’s my Church when I didn’t even make any plans to buy the damn building, besides I double booked with the opening. You wanted me to catch up on my therapy session so I’m going twice this week, your fault not mine” Ian replied as if he was stating facts even when he knew it was a stretch. It was his own fault he’d missed two therapy sessions and one standard check up, Mickey wasn’t the one who organised a spontaneous trip to Canada or the reason it went pear shaped.

"Yeah well, if they make me cut some kind of a red fucking ribbon I’m gonna jam it down someone's throat” Mickey said, taking a drag from the cigarette.

“Tell me you love me”, Ian demanded.

“What the hell man? I ain’t telling you shit!”

**XXX**

**New Orleans Police Station**

Ian’s [IG] personal recording with Detective Mark Robertson [DMR]

10:07AM

  
**IG**  
Do you mind if I record this? I brought my own recorder, cost only 17 bucks on eBay from China. Free shipping too, you should check it out.

 **DMR**  
Mr Gallagher, this is not an interview and we did not ask you to come down to the station. There is no need to have this recorded.

 **IG**  
Is Detective Nguyen around? I got a vibe she was more of a people person that you, no offence.

 **DMR**  
It’s her day off today.

 **IG**  
That’s Okay, I guess you’ll do. Do you have a more comfortable chair, one that I can lay down on?

 **DMR**  
Mr Gallagher, I don’t understand why you are here. You called the police to book in a meeting, gave no reason and here you are asking to lay down?

 **IG**  
Yeah, isn’t that how they do it in movies? You could even try hypnotising me with your pocket watch or something. That would be pretty cool if it worked right?

 **DMR**  
Do you understand you are wasting valuable police time? Please tell me why you are here if not I will have to put an end to this meeting.

 **IG**  
I miss Fiona!

 **DMR**  
Who?

 **IG**  
My sister Fiona. I haven’t seen her in almost a year, not spoken to her in over six months.

 **DMR**  
Is she missing?

 **IG**  
Nah, she’s on a cruise. Deb says she’s on a singles cruise in the Bahamas and won’t be back for another 2 weeks.

 **DMR**  
Mister Gallagher, you set up this meeting to tell me you miss your sister?

 **IG**  
Well no, I set it up because I needed someone to talk to. I just thought I really hit it off with you and Detective Nguyen a few weeks ago and was hoping we could continue these one on one catch ups.

 **DMR**  
Why are you here and not at the Crisis Centre opening? Isn’t it your Church that was converted into a shelter of some sort?

 **IG**  
Oh, you heard about that? See, this is why I like coming here. You know me.

 **DMR**  
Mr Gallagher

 **IG**  
Please, call me Ian. Before you start berating me I want to explain, it’s not like I don’t want to be at the opening of the Centre I just prefer to be here at the Milk station. Mickey’ll give a small speech about how he will break the knee caps off anyone who fucks with the centre. He will shake hands with the new Mayor of New Orleans and show everyone the new layout of the old Church. I put 4 desks in there all equipped with phones, four full time employees who have excellent qualification in helping out people who come from abusive homes, been in a domestic relationship or are just homeless. There’s even a kitchen that will serve 3 meals a day to whomever needs food and a lounge for those who just need someone to talk to them.

 **DMR**  
That’s all well and good, but what does this have with you wasting my time?

 **IG**  
What's that?

 **DMR**  
It’s the intercom giving an announcement

**Attention: CODE M1, M2, M4 and M7**

**IG**  
What's a code M one, M two, M four and M seven?

 **DMR**  
I’m surprised you don’t know. The Milkovich's have their own code here, one is Mickey Milkovich, two is Colin, four is Mandy and Seven is Jake.

 **IG**  
Why are they being announced?

 **DMR**  
Why else? They're probably here in cuffs again.

 **IG**  
What? But they're meant to be at the Crisis Centre!

 **DMR**  
I suppose you want to go out there and see your boyfriend. Probably need to bail him out too.

 **IG**  
Nah, Mickey doesn't even know I'm here. Thinks I'm at my therapy session today but it's really on Wednesday.

 **DMR**  
Your using the police station as a form of therapy?

 **IG**  
Well, it is very cathartic and like I said, I thought we really hit it off the last time you interviewed me.

 **DMR**  
I’m afraid I have to cut this meeting short to go see to real problems now.

 **IG**  
Ah, if you run into Mickey out there can you not tell him I was here?

 **DMR**  
You really don’t want to see him, bail him out?

 **IG**  
Iggy can bail him out, I gotta get home and put on some lunch or dinner depending on when he gets out I guess.

  
**Attention** : **CODE M3, M9** , **M8**

 **IG**  
Let me guess, code 3 is Iggy?

 **DMR**  
You are a fast learner Mr Gallagher

 **IG**  
Shit! Is that Mickeys voice?

**XXX**

Mickey

“Fuck off, I know where I’m goin’!”, Even with his wrists in cuffs Mickey was able to turn the door knob to the Milkovich interview room, he didn’t wait for the police that was escorting them or care that the interview room had the sign ‘in use’ on. It was the Milkovich interview room, no one had the right to use it but a Milkovich.

Mickey kicked the door open after the knob was turned to make his entrance all that more dramatic. He didn’t like causing drama but something about cops just really rubbed him the wrong way, not to mention that he hadn’t been in hand cuffs for a while now so he was quite pissed about it.

When he stepped into the room and saw Ian he hid his surprise by pulling out a chair and sitting beside his boyfriend. Mickey placed his handcuffed wrists onto he table and turned to Ian inspecting him, making sure he wasn’t hurt or in any danger.

Mickey ignored the greetings Mandy and the others gave to Ian as they piled into the Milkovich interview room behind him knowing that Mandy, Colin and his cousin Jake would sit at the chairs lining the wall at his back.

“What the fuck are you doing here, shouldn't you be in therapy?” Mickey asked.

“Ah, Mickey. Can we talk about this at home?” Ian replied smiling at the detective in front of them wanly.

Mickey studied Ian more closely, they had parted ways at the docks in the City. He went off to do the Crisis centre opening that went pretty smoothly right until the end when he warned the crowd that he would break everyone's knee caps if they fucked with the Crisis centre. “You little shit, you fucking around here so you didn’t have to open your own fucking centre?”. Mickey wrapped his hands around Ians throat despite his wrists confinement, “There really was a red ribbon, it even had a fuckin’ bow on it!”.

Ian spluttered coughing as Mickey tried to strangle him despite the cuffs being a hinderance, the cops that were now holding him back also meant Ian wasn’t in any real danger. “Hey Mickey, watch it will ya. You're at a police station and I’ve got this whole assault recorded!”

Mickey glared at Ian and shrugged off the cops at his back, “Fuck Ian, did you just threaten me?”

“No, I’m just saying. I got that recorder on EBay, remember the parcel that arrived for me the other day? Been waiting for it for over a month now, was gonna raise a dispute on EBay for Item not received and give the fucker a bad rating on his EBay profile”.

Mickey shook his head unable to keep up with what Ian was talking about.

“Hey, where’s Mrs Chen?” Colin asked.

Mickey turned and glared at his brother, “Shut up Colin!”

“Hey, how is this my fault?” Colin complained.

The detective in front of Mickey put up his hand signalling everyone to calm down, “I’ll take the cuffs off if you all promise to shut up”

“I’m not in cuffs, can I talk?” Ian asked.

“No, you shut up” Mickey said turning back to Ian who had one elbow on the table his face resting in one hand so that his face was tilted towards him. Ian gave him that stupid smile he had when he was pleased with himself. “What the fuck you grinning at?”

Ian leaned closer to him. “Tell me you love me” he demanded softly so that no one else could here.

Mickey pulled back giving Ian an incredulous look, “Are you fucking kidding me right now? If you were on fire I wouldn’t even spit on you”.

“Hey, that’s mean. And I'm still recording this, this can be used as evidence against you blah blah blah” Ian replied still grinning at him.

Mickey shook his head and turned to the cop on his left to get his cuffs unlocked, once free he righted his shirt and crossed his arms over his chest. The longer he sat there the more he seethed, he had put up with the opening of the centre, let it go when he cut the ribbon and could only curse when a neon sign below the large cross on the old Church lit up in hot Pink text with the words ‘Jesus Christ-sis Centre' He went through three cigarettes after Mandy corrected him stating the colour was fuschia, not hot pink. He'd snapped back at her giving his opinion that what it looked like was Church meets strip club.

“Mandy, you are usually more level headed, can you explain what you are all doing here?” The detective across from the table asked.

Mickey signed and waived one hand signalling her to go ahead and answer.

“Well after the Crisis centre was open Colin was hungry, wanted some Chinese. He called The Golden Dragon but they weren’t open yet so he called Mrs Chen’s mobile to see if she could put in a special order for him” Mandy started.

“When she answered she was crying!” Colin exclaimed standing up. “Her son in law kicked her out of her home over a month ago and she’s been living on Cleveland street ever since”.

"Colin shut up and let Mandy tell it. Stop fuckin’ crying!” Mickey yelled. “Jesus Christ, it's just takeaway!”

The door swung open and Mickey turned to watch Iggy, Mrs Chen and his two cousins entered the room. His day was meant to be easy, open a crisis centre, have some lunch with his siblings then meet up with Ian and go home and watch some DVDs. How did it come to this?

"Yo Colin, I found Mrs Chen for you!” Iggy said giving his brother a hug.

Mickey exhaled loudly and gave up, he decided instead he would ignore everything except for Ian who was still ginning at him. One thing that always calmed him was Ian Gallagher even if everything else went to shit. He listened to his family members recount the events of the last hour all the while his eyes stayed on the man beside him.

“Mrs Chen, you alright?” Colin asked.

“Yes, Yes. Good. Iggy very good boy, get things from house” Mrs Chen replied in her broken english.

“Mrs Chen, you can't live on Clarence street. It's like Afghanistan there, you can come live with me!” Iggy volunteered.

Jake spoke up for the first time since they entered the room “Iggy, you live just one street over. It's like a war zone there too. People get shot just walking down the street”.

“So? It makes me feel grounded! Just because you all decided to live like rich bitches doesn't mean I have to!” Iggy said defensively.

Ian gave him a wink and Mickey rolled his eyes, he wanted to pack Ian up and go home now. Leave his siblings, the cops and Mrs Chen to sought out their own shit. He wanted to crawl into bed with Ian and forget about their day despite it only being 11AM and the day hadn’t really begun.

“You can come live with us at the Milkovich house Mrs Chen” Colin announced. “We can adopt you, you can be Mrs Chen-Milkovich”

70 year old Mrs Chen broke down in tears and hugged Colin, “Colin, you are good boy. My daughter dead one month now and I think I die too. You have big heart”.

“Okay, let me recap quickly” Mandy said as Colin ushered Mrs Chen onto one of the chairs lined against the wall. “Colin called Iggy asking if he could go pick up Mrs Chen because he lived the closest. Iggy, Jamie and Patrick was going to pack all of Mrs Chen’s belongings from the crack house she was renting a room at while the rest of us were going to pay Thomas William’s a visit. Tom is Mrs Chen’s son in law, her daughter married him two years ago but died in a car accident recently. Since then he’s shacked up with another women and kicked Mrs Chen out of the house. He wants to close her daughters Chinese restaurant down. Sure we roughed him up a little but he deserved it.”

Mickey smirked when he saw Ian’s eyes widened and his head turn to Mandy. He bet Ian thought Mandy was now sweet and wholesome like most of America and the world, people forgot how tough she is because of how she presented herself these days. Nothing angered Mandy more than a man treating a women wrong. Mandy had put on her signature knuckle busters and went to town on Toms face, he and his brother didn't even get a chance.

Mickey stood up and nodded at the detective “I’m out. Got an early day tomorrow”.

"Hold on, we haven’t started the questions yet” The detective replied.

Mickey looked at the badge on his shirt, “Detective Robertson, my boyfriend here made me open a Crisis Centre this morning, my brother who barely uses his brains has adopted a grandma and my sister gave an asshole the beating he deserved. No ones pressing charges, Tom’s too spineless to admit he was beaten up by a women. You coppers don’t want to investigate this because at the heart of things, we Milkovich's did the right thing for once. Mrs Chen just buried her daughter a month ago, got kicked out of her home and will possibly lose the restaurant, the only connection she has left with her daughter”.

“Shit Mickey, that’s a better recap than mine!” Mandy hissed at him.

**XXX**

“Put the alarm on for midnight”, Mickey said to Ian as he turned up the AC to the bedroom.

“We really going to bed now?” Ian asked him confused but did as he asked with the alarm.

Mickey nodded as he crawled between the sheets, “Don’t make a habit of going to the Milk station, it's gonna get you in trouble one of these days”. He felt Ian curl up into his side and turned over to look at him. Ians face was so close to him it looked like he only had one eye, “Why are you so close, move fucking back so I can look at you without being cross eyed”

Ian shook his head “Tell me you love me first”.

Mickey couldn’t contain it, he laughed, “Fuck off. We’ll sleep for a few hours, forget this fucking morning. You can fuck me when we wake up then we’ll have some dinner and watch a DVD. Go see that Billboard of yours again tonight”.

“They're making me remove the ad tomorrow, say it's offensive” Ian said to him moving his head back.

Mickey ran a finger from one end of Ians forehead to the other, “I know, why do you think we’ve gone to see it every night. They’ll probably make you remove that hot pink neon sign on the Church too, I seriously can't believe you fuckin’ called it a Jesus Christ-sis centre”

"That’s ok, I'll just get the cross painted hot pink instead. Don't worry about the billboard, I’ve got them removing my fuzz free ass only to have it replaced with another ad of me” Ian said catching hold if his finger so he couldn’t strop tracking a line on Ians forehead.

Mickey groaned when Ian sucked the finger into his mouth, “What kind of ad?”

Ian withdrew Mickeys finger and gave him a smirk, “I won’t ruin the surprise but I'll give you a hint. There's fuzz this time, lots of it”.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was my idea of fluff.  
> luckily I have a day job huh?


	20. Gonna eat a lot of Peaches

"Hey, are you awake?”

Mickey groaned and rolled over pulling the pillow over his head in the process trying delay the moment where he had to wake up.

“What do you think elephant meat would taste like?” Ian asked.

He felt Ian hovering above him pressing down on him, “Fuck Ian, what are you talking about?”

They barely just went to bed because Ian wanted to stay up all night playing Skyrim. Ian was shit at all the shooting games and worse at Grand theft auto. Discovering Skyrim opened up a whole new world to Ian, it was entertaining watching Ian go through all the character opitons at the beginning, reading everything carefully and finally settling on the Orc profile. He’d spent another four hours just going through the Orcs features until he was satisfied the thing looked as terrifying as possible.

“Elephants, how come we don’t eat them?” Ian reiterated.

Ian now crawled on top of him with no signs of moving, he felt the pillow lift off his head and then something wet in his ear, “What the fuck Ian!”. Mickey turned over and dislodged Ian who tumbled off the side of the bed, he rubbed a hand over his wet ear glaring down over the side of the bed where Ian now laid looking innocently up at him.

“I’ll go outside and see if there are fireflies. You go back to sleep, will wake you up if I catch some” Ian said, sitting up and giving him a kiss on the lips.

Mickey quickly reached out grabbing hold of Ians wrist before he could make a move towards the door. He sighed and sat up trying to get his mind to work. “Wait, I’m kinda hungry. Can you make me something for breakfast?”

Ian nodded enthusiastically at him, “Yeah, Mrs Chen taught me and Colin how to make Chicken chow mien. I’ll go make you some while you get dressed”.

He hadn’t been thinking about Chinese noodles for breakfast but at least he was able to divert Ian’s need to go outside to look for fireflies. Last thing he needed was for Ian to jump into the swamp trying to catch the stupid glow things and be eaten by the pet alligators. Groaning Mickey stood up and put on some tracksuit pants and one of Ians shirt then made his way out into the hallway where he could hear the kitchen cupboards open and close in quick successions. Mickey turned back into the bedroom searching for something Ian could wear, when he got to the open area he saw Ian standing in front of the open fridge pulling out items and throwing them blindly onto the kitchen counter behind him.

“Hey, put on your clothes first” Mickey said moving to pick up the packet of egg noodles that missed the counter. When Ian didn’t look at him Mickey repeated himself, “Ian, clothes. Now!”

Ian turned frowning at him, “We don’t have chicken”.

Mickey ran both hands through his hair seeing Ian was getting upset, “That’s okay, do we have beef strips?”.

“I can’t make Chicken chow mien without Chicken Mickey! I’ll go to the grocery store now and pick some up” Ian replied slamming the fridge close.

He was a saint, the fucking Queen of England should fly over in her teacup and knight him. “Ian, beef chow mien is fine. I prefer beef anyway, you know this”. He could practically see the wheels in Ians mind turn, saw when Ian let it go. Mickey let out a sigh of relief.

“Beef chow mien, your gonna have an orgasm eating this Mickey” Ian announced pulling out a knife from its block.

Mickey watched Ian chop an onion, slice carrots and capsicum and juggle ten other things in between. He twisted himself in the stool so that he could reach the console by the kitchen wall to modify the temperature of the house so that it suited his boyfriends lack of clothing. Turning himself further on his stool he checked the swamp outside through the sliding doors and saw that it was still pitched dark.

“While you’re at it can you make me a coffee too?” Mickey asked.

“One black espresso coming right up!” Ian quipped giving him a salute

Mickey wondered if it was due to Ian’s manic state that he managed to cook the dishe in such a short time. They both sat on the kitchen stool side by side, “Looks great Gallagher”.

Ian nodded, “Mrs Chen is the best. Maybe we can have her stay with us a bit”

Mickey heaped a large serving of noodles onto his plate “Sure. Just know it means we can’t fuck in the lounge room whenever you’re bored of watching TV”.

“Maybe we can have her over for dinner but she’ll need to go back to the Milkovich house straight after” Ian announced once done with mulling over Mickeys words.

**XXX**

Mickey didn’t like indecision because it was a waste of time. Hated it even more when it was him being indecisive. He’d asked for a Milkovich meeting at the house to discuss the future of The Milkovich, every single family member would be there and equally important, none of the film crew. He could say that the meeting came at a bad time considering Ian was in one of his manic states or he could admit that the meeting was a byproduct of Ians current state.

Sure Ian put on his armour and went to war with the media over the porn and anyone who dared question his commitment to their relationship but Mickey couldn’t help but feel it had taken a toll on Ian. His Ian was a dreamer at heart, getting knocked down and being disliked by people wasn’t something someone like Ian could get use to, shouldn’t have to get used to.

“Hey, I gotta go out for a bit. You okay to stay here on your own?” Mickey asked.

“Yeah, pills in half an hour. Go, I’ll be here when you get back. Gotta show these dragons who’s fucking boss” Ian said not even bother ing to look at him.

He left Ian on the lounge playing Skyrim and took the boat into town where he docked it. Mickey took his time making his way down the riverwalk wanting to use the opportunity to once again look at the Billboard with it’s new ad. With a black beanie and sunnies on no one seemed to recognise him. He stood at the intersection looking across at the billboard, what once was a picture of Ian holding a condom was replaced with Ian in a standalone bathtub filled with peaches.

At the bottom was the slogan  
**When it’s inappropriate to love peaches _that_ much : Del Monte canned peaches is the next best thing**

He asked Ian a few days ago if the peaches had been heavy because it looked like a tonne of them was used to filled the tub to the rim. Ian had said that they weren’t but Mickey saw evidence that proved otherwise, certain parts of Ians body where covered in yellow bruises after the photo take. Mickey made sure he kissed every bruise that night until he was turned over and fucked into the mattress.

On the first night they came down to see the new Ad Mickey stood in almost the same position as now speechless at Ian’s audacity. He might not be nude as the last ad but the innuendo was there underneath the hundreds of peaches. 10 minute into staring at the peach ad his phone had vibrated in his pocket to a tune he didn’t recognise, he ignored it because there where more important things on his mind- Ian possibly naked in a tub of peaches. The phone had rung and rung again until Mickey finally pulled it from his back pocket only to find Ians name across his screen. He’d looked at Ian who he could see was pressing the redial button on his own phone, calling him again. His phone lit up again and now that he was paying attention he heard the most stupid of songs, something about moving to the country to eat a lot of peaches. Needless to say they spent the next half an hour rolling around on the grass trying to get the better of one another because it was a dick move to program his phone with a song about someone having their way, they’d be eating peaches everyday.

**XXX**

  
The family room was the largest area in the house fitting all 27 Milkovich’s, some at the table, others sat on the lounge a distance away, most stood or sat lined up against the walls. Mickey sat at the head of the oval table taking his time to look at every one of them. Over the 5 years a few more Milkovich’s had been born and he was proud to say that none of them had died or went to prison in those years. Mandy sat to his right and his bothers stood lined up against the wall, none of them knew what he was going to say because he hadn’t discussed it with anyone.

"We've been here five years” he stated his eyes finally landing on Mandy. “New Orleans to be exact because Mandy wanted to meet Klaus. We were lucky to have landed this show because of Mandy”.

He had to pause because there was a round of applause and whistling, some people even came forward to give Mandy a high five.

“Fuck Mickey, are you sick? Do you have brain cancer?” Iggy asked coming forward to get a better look at him worry etched on his face.

Mickey rolled his eyes “Fuck you, do I look like I've got cancer?”

“Maybe it’s the early stage, don’t they come in like seven stages?” Iggy asked

He wasn’t sure how many stages cancer came in, “The fuckin’ property next door got sold, someone's planning to build some high rise apartments. They’ve asked to purchase this house and the land for 20 times it’s value”.

Mickey was expecting everyone to speak at once giving him their opinion, instead he got silence. He looked over at Mandy who shrugged at him but didn’t offer any words of wisdom. Had he not been so busy with Ian and the trip to Canada he would of known the land next door was up for sale and purchased it himself just so they wouldn’t have to deal with new neighbours. How many neighbours did you have to kill before the alligators got sick of human flesh?

Colin frowned putting up a hand as if he was in grade school waiting for permission speak. Mickey nodded at him to speak his mind not that Colin could be stopped when he wanted to say something.

“You want us to sell?” Colin asked.

Mickey wasn’t sure what he wanted, he had a few ideas none of them he was really sold on. Firstly, they could sell and move The Milkovich show to a new house. After five years a change might be refreshing for them as well as the show. Second choice was the Milkovich’s stay because this was their home, a place where they always came back to.  
His last idea was a bit more selfish. They could sell, he would split the money between each of them equally not needing any of the money himself and they all go their own way. Five years as the highest rated show in the US, did they really need a sixth? He wouldn’t have to worry about what trouble they got into on the show, not have to negotiate their contracts or review any more episodes before it aired. Be free to take Ian away from all the negativity of the press that came with being associated with a Milkovich.

Colin surprised him, “We don’t need the money even if it's 20 times more than we bought the place for. Is this because of Ian and the Live episode we did the other day? That was all Iggy’s fault”

Iggy pushed Colin “Fuck you!”

"Hey it’s got nothing to do with that” Mickey lied.

“Then why bring it up?” Mandy asked finally speaking up.

Mandy crossed her arms on the table and looked around the room then her eyes landed on him communicating without needing words.

When she spoke he understood the underlying message that none of the family members grasped “We’ll take it to vote, fight for flight?”

None of the others knew what they were fighting or what flight she had in mind so they all yelled “Fight!”.

Fight they understood even if they didn’t know what context it was in.

**XXX**

Mickey watched Mandy feed Daisy a slice of apple, the deer nudged at her hip asking for another slice as quickly as Mandy could cut another wedge. He sat on a wooden log which was part of the stable for Daisy that Iggy, Colin and Molly had built when Daisy came to live with them five years ago when his brothers stole her from the New Orleans zoo.

“What did you expect?” Mandy asked breaking the silence. After the vote all the family members had gone off to do their own thing which consisted of everyone moving off into the kitchen to wait for Mrs Chen to teach them how to make corn bread.

Mandy moved standing before him, she leaned in and gave him a hug careful with the knife still in her hand, “You’ve done enough for us Mickey, if you really wanted to leave we wouldn’t stop you”. She pulled out of the embrace her expression serious. “Ian’s fighting his battles just fine, don’t coddle him”.

Just as Mandy finished her request both their phones beeped instantaneously with the sound of an incoming message.

They both read the message on their screens out loud:

 **IAN** : TOMORROW, 6PM THANKSGIVING @ THE SWAMP. BRING YOUR OWN PUMPKIN

**XXX**

Mickey dropped anchor then tied the boat up to the railing before jumping up the ramp. Instantly he saw a strip of red carpet and red rope barriers that weren't there hours ago. Shaking his head Mickey stepped on the carpet and walked through the red barriers as if he was on the red carpet to the premier of a movie, only this one lead to the front door of his home. He unlocked the door and stuck his head in first, cautiously he stepped into the hallway and surveyed the surroundings. He estimated that he’d been gone no more than four hours but already with a quick glance he noticed the changes to the place. From his position he got a full view of the kitchen and noticed the counter was lined with half a dozen store bought turkeys. The lounge was as he left it only there was now a pile of dried grass on the floor besides the coffee table. He went over to kick the grass around seeing if it would give some clue as to why it was there. The grass gave up no good reason for its presence.

He walked down the hallway and noticed the utility box was open and the power switch to the whole house was set to ‘off’. Mickey checked their bedroom, office and all the spare rooms in the house only to find Ian in there makeshift gym room. The door was open and Ian sat in the middle of the room with all the parts of the treadmill around him.

Mickey stepped in and sat on the bench press seat assessing Ian who was using a screw driver to take apart the motor of the treadmill. He waited for Ian to look at him rather than asking Ian what the fuck was going on like he usually would.

It took Ian a few minutes to acknowledge him but when Ian did he was treated with one of the biggest smiles.

“Hey, did you see the carpet thing? Cool right, I saw it and thought of you instantly!” Ian said to him.

“Yeah, looks really good on the deck. Very fuckin' welcoming” Mickey replied. “Where’d you get it from?”

He watched Ian look to his left, something he did when he was in thought. “I couldn't kill the dragon so I was going to catch a movie, saw then red carpet and that rope there and knew we needed to have it. Nothing good was showing anyway”.

Mickey nodded pretending he understood Ians explanation. _Did_ _you steal the carpet from the cinema complex?_ “What happened to the treadmill?”

“Don’t worry, I took a photo of before and after so I know how it should look once I put it back together. The thing wouldn’t start so I’m fixing it”

_Maybe it’s not working because you turned off the main power to the house._

“Let’s go put the turkey farm in the fridge, you can tell me about October Thanksgiving”, he said needing to distract Ian from the treadmill.

“Oh yeah, I invited Fiona. You think she’ll come?”

_To be continued_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Movin' to the country  
> Gonna eat a lot of peaches
> 
> Millions of peaches, peaches for me  
> Millions of peaches, peaches for free
> 
> How can anyone not like this song??#$%$%^??


	21. We don't keep blood on tap, Klaus

**Mickey**

**Miles2Good** : Can you lend me some money?

Mickey rolled his eyes as he read the text on his phone that popped up on the screen. He picked it up and typed in a short but succinct reply.

 **MICKEY** : Fuck no

 **Miles2Good** : Why not?

 **MICKEY** : I’m broke

 **Miles2Good** : But Nikolas complains about you stealing his money all the time.

 **MICKEY** : He tell you that? Tell him to fuck off.

 **Miles2Good** : I can’t, Nan and I live under his roof. You don’t bite the hand that feeds you.

He sighed giving in. Why was it that his own family never asked him for money but a kid half way across the world dared?

 **MICKEY** : How much?

 **Miles2Good** : US$2,347,980.00 There is a moon rock up for auction in two weeks time in Houston, I’ve saved up enough money for the flight already.

 **Miles2Good** : You still there?

 **Miles2Good** : Hello?????

 **Miles2Good** : Hey, you just can’t ignore me

Mickey put down his phone planning to do what Miles claimed he couldn't do, he was going to ignore the idiotic idea of shelling out 2Mil for a rock. He picked up the other mobile phone that was on the desk which belonged to Ian and redialled Fiona’s number only to hear it go directly to her voicemail, her chirpy voice came on telling him she couldn’t come to the phone and to leave a message. Without leaving another message he hung up, he’d already left a dozen messages since breakfast. The contingent plan started directly after beef chow mien which consisted of calling every other Gallagher on Ian’s contact list. Knowing Ian’s thanksgiving was going to turn into a catastrophe when Fiona didn’t turn up he laid out his plan to Lip and booked everyone's flight but Carl who was still in god knows where serving his country like a good soldier he now was. Lip, Debbie, Liam, Svet and Yev would arrive on the United flight at 4.27pm and be picked up by Iggy. Hopefully with the addition of the Milkovich clan it was going to be a sufficient amount of people to keep Ian preoccupied enough to forget the big sister that was MIA.

Mickeys thoughts of Fiona was interrupted by Ian yelling out his name from somewhere else in the house. He put Ians phone into the desk draw and opened the screen of his laptop just as Ian thrust the door open and barged in holding a carrot in one hand and in the other a bottle of lube. He leaned back on his leather office chair entwining his fingers on his abdomen looking up at Ian from across the room. Mickey studied Ian from the head to toe, Ians hair was a mess, it stuck out in every direction that was annoyingly cute. Mickey took in Ians pasty body with the sprinkle of reddish brown hair on his chest that tracked all the way down to Ian’s groin. His eyes lingered on the groin area finding it fascinating that Ian’s body always made his heart race even after all this time. Next came the long lean legs and perfect feet, he never thought feet where attractive until Ian came along.

“Mickey! You’re not listening, get your shorts off” Ian exclaimed.

Mickey looked up from Ians feet to eye the carrot and lube, “What the fuck is the carrot for?”. He watched Ian look at the carrot in his hand and saw in Ians expression that his boyfriend didn’t know why he had a carrot.

Ian gave a small shrug throwing the carrot over his shoulder, “Don’t worry, that’s not for you”.

"Fucking right it’s not for me”, Mickey replied eyes now glued to Ian’s hand that was now free of carrot. Ian squirted a few drops of lube in his hand and just like the carrot a few seconds ago, the lube bottle went over his shoulders landing with a small thud somewhere behind him. With both hands free Mickey watched Ian stoke himself.

“C’mere”

Mickey shook his head despite his dick getting hard from watching Ian, “I'm working”. He forced himself to look away from Ian to the laptop screen open in front of him. The laptop wasn’t even powered on but Ian didn’t know that.

"Fine, I’ll just sit here”

He didn’t look up at Ian but could hear hI'm flop down onto the couch and judging by the sounds Ian was making the asshole was jerking himself off.

“Trojan gave me free lube, this one’s passionfruit. Don’t you wanna try?” Ian asked him after a few minutes of silence.

There was nothing he could do to stop the groan that came from his throat. Giving up all pretence, Mickey pushed his chair back and went to stand in front of Ian who had his legs spread wide. Mickey stood above Ian watching the movements of Ian’s hands, instead of him tugging on his dick Ian was slightly thrusting into the grip.

Mickey felt himself break out in sweat and started drop to his knees only to have Ian place both hands on his hips keeping him in place.

"Nah, you won’t like the taste of passionfruit. Turn around, I’ll prep you then you can ride me” Ian said turning him so he faced forward.

He felt Ian pull his shorts down to his knees and part his cheeks, Mickey tensed slightly waiting for the intrusion of Ians fingers. A groan tore from him when he felt Ian’s tongue instead, Ian licked and bit at him. Mickey leant forward hands to knees so he wouldn’t collapse, “Fuck Ian, what are you doing?”

“What does it feel like I’m doing?” Ian asked in return giving him a nip on his left cheek. Mickey made to turn over only to have Ian stopped him again, “No, sit on me. Like this”

Mickey felt Ian guide him down onto his lap, his arms having no where to hold onto were placed on each side of the couch. Inch by inch he took Ian within him until he was fully seated and moaning. Without the leverage he wasn’t able to get the friction going that he needed to find release leaving him at Ians mercy. Ian had him anchored, both hands wrapped around his chest and was sucking on his neck.

Mickey rolled his head to the side “Stop giving me hickeys and kiss me asshole”.

Ian grinned back at him lifting his head up from Mickeys neck, “Who’s the asshole? I’ve got every inch up your ass right now”

“Then fuck me already!” Mickey complained wrapping his own hand around his dick.

Ian started to give small thrusts up into him “I’ve got a confession to make”

Mickey groaned at the friction Ian was providing him, just a little bit to get him worked up but not enough to satisfy him. He needed Ian to pound into him and was a step away from begging if not for Ian’s stupid need to start confessing things at the worst time. It was as if the fucker planned it.

“No, no confession. Fuck me harder” Mickey snapped as he unsuccessfully tried to lift himself up to gain some friction. His hand rapidly jerked himself off, sitting facing forward and not being able to see Ian was both a turn on and frustrating.

Ian leaned himself back and took Mickey with him until they were almost lying down on the couch. Mickey felt Ian bite his ear and turned away not able to stand what it did to him.

“My confession”. Ian started kissing at Mickeys neck again, “I don’t know who does the laundry. We seem to always have clean clothes but I don’t know how, I pretend that I do it but I really don’t”

Mickey squirmed on top of Ian, “I get someone in to clean and do laundry twice a week shithead. Now are you done confessing stupid shit?”

"No, i have another confession”

Mickey was forced to let go of his dick when Ian pulled his hands up over his head until they were made to wrap up around the back of Ians head. Now he was fully spread out on top of Ian and was too vulnerable for his liking.

“No more confessions Ian. If you don’t wanna fuck let me finish myself off in the shower” Mickey demanded even has he clenched his hands into Ians hair pulling at it slightly, using it as leverage to pull himself up and down on Ian’s dick.

“This confession's serious Mickey” Ian said gravely

Mickey felt Ian trace a hand over the top of his dick and turned his head so that he could moan into Ians neck. “You confessed this morning to eating the last pop tart and the morning before that you confessed to dropping your phone into the toilet while undoing your pants to take a piss”

"But I’m serious now” Ian replied. To prove how serious he was Ian spread his legs further apart giving Mickey his much needed friction. Ians hips thrust up into him and Mickey felt the heat gather in the pit of his stomach. One had left Ians hair only to be placed back there by Ian, “I'm jealous, always so bloody jealous”.

It took Mickey a few moments to register what Ian said but when he did he lay there still and twisted his body so he could look into Ians eyes, “What?”

“I want you all the time Mickey. Sometimes I think it's because of my disorder, but then I think it can't be because even when I'm not in one of my moods I'm always so fucking jealous” Ian confessed.

Mickey was confused. “What?” He asked again.

Ian gave him a quick kiss on the lips, “Like last night at the Blue Oak, I just wanted to eat my fucking ribs with you sitting opposite me. Then that little girl comes over, she was like what, nine or ten?”

Mickey nodded brain still not working fully because Ian was still thrusting into him, but he did remember last nights meal in New Orleans. “Maybe ten”.

“Yeah well, while you signed an autograph for the girls mom I sat there picturing myself throwing the ten year old girl and her mother over a cliff . Sure I was smiling like it was the cutest thing ever, you taking the time to sign an autograph but inside I didn’t feel it”

Mickey clenched his hands in Ians hair turning his face into Ian so they could kiss again. It was a messy kiss with tongue and teeth that left them both breathing hard. When they came apart for air Mickey moved one hand out of Ians hair and placed it on Ians cheek.

“What do you have to be jealous of, hmm?” he asked softly up to Ian.

“Everything!” Ian exclaimed.

Mickey held back a chuckle so that Ian could continue.

“I'm jealous of anyone who monopolises your time. There are people you don’t even know, they claim to love you, they send you tweets that they love you and want nothing but happiness for you. I’m jealous of them too, why can’t I send you these tweets?”

He bit his lip until it bled so he couldn’t outright laugh at Ian’s proclamation.

"You're not taking this seriously Mickey!” Ian grumbled.

“Believe me, I’m taking all this very serious. Can you fuck me a bit harder Ian, if not I’m gonna have to take matters into my own hands” Mickey replied starting to unwind the hand still in in Ians hair to show how serious he really was. All this talking while he was impaled on Ian was starting to drive him crazy, he wasn’t built to multitask.

“Fuck Mickey, that’s another thing. I’m jealous of your fucking hands” Ian stated. Mickey felt Ian take both his hands down and entwined their fingers together laying them on his chest so that Ians arms were wrapped around him.

Ian bit at his neck while he spoke making him groan in frustration “Ian, stop talking pleeeeeeease”.

Ian either didn’t hear or care for Mickey’s request “It turns me on to watch you jerk yourself off but at the same time I don’t want anyone to give you gratification, not even yourself. No one is allowed to take up any of your time, make you laugh and especially Mickey-“.

Mickey squirmed his whole body on fire from Ian’s words and the feel of Ian drive up into him in small but fast thrusts.

Ian bit his earlobe “No one, no one's allowed to make you feel like this but me”

They were both sweat slicked where their bodies rubbed up against one another, his shirt was now soaked. Mickey pulled on Ian’s hand bringing it up to his lip, he kissed the knuckles that were inked with his name then bit them to suppress another groan that couldn’t be stopped.

“I can’t come like this Ian. Please, just …” Mickey didn’t get to finish his sentence because Ian removed his hands from Mickeys and placed them on his hips. This allowed for Ian to hold him in place and thrust up into him with more accuracy, hitting him exactly were he needed. Before he knew it his body arched up backwards and his come jettisoned landing on his chest and shoulder.

Ian kissed and licked at the cum where he was able to reach with his mouth, the remaining he felt Ian rub at it with his hands until it was spread over his whole chest left to dry to his skin.

“My turn” Ian said.

Mickey was lifted up, pushed forward landing on his hands and knees with Ian behind him. Still coming down from his high he groaned into the carpet of his office as Ian rammed non stop into him until he came.

With Ian’s full body weight leaning down on him Mickey let his body drop until he was laying flat out on the carpet. Ian draped over him like a blanket breathing heavily in his ear was almost as good as the sex itself.

“You got nothing to be jealous about Ian” he said turning his head so that he could look Ian in the eyes.

“Mmm, I know but I feel it anyway. Sometimes I just want to crawl under your skin and live there. Does that sound creepy?” Ian asked.

Mickey laughed rolling out from under Ian so they were side by side, both turned so they lay flat on their back staring up at the grey concrete ceiling. “As long as you’re not thinking of skinning me then wearing my head as a hat it's okay”.

They lay companionably for a few minutes both still basking in the afterglow of sex. Mickey thought it was the first time he’d been able to get Ian to be still enough while awake in the last few days.

“What’s that sound?” Ian asked cocking his head up.

“I can’t hear anything” Mickey lied. He could faintly hear the door bell chime but it was too early for anyone to be arriving for thanksgiving dinner, whoever it was, they were not welcome.

Ian sat up, brows furrowed in concentration, “I think it’s the timer on the oven” Ian rolled over so that he was on his knees. “ I gotta go check the turkey”.

Mickey made a quick grab for Ian’s ankle, “It's not the fucking oven, it’s the doorbell and your not answering the goddamn door naked!”

“Since when do we have a doorbell?” Ian asked standing up.

Ian tried to walk but he now had both hands around Ians ankle, “Here, put on my clothes then you can go do whatever the fuck you want”.

Mickey kicked at the shorts that were still tangled around his ankles until they were on the floor. He knew he had to be quick about it before Ian decided clothing himself would take too long, with one hand he pulled the shirt up from the back and over his head. Standing up he put it hurriedly over Ians head and waited until Ian threaded his hands through he sleeves. He let out a small sigh of relief when Ian picked up the discarded shorts himself and put them on.

Mickey got a small peck on he lips from Ian before he was left alone in his office with no clothes on and the feel of Ians come sliding down his leg.

XXX

 **Joseph Morgan**  
  
He rung the doorbell for the third time wishing he’d asked the water taxi to wait until there were signs of someone inside the house before letting the taxi go. The water taxi driver had demanded triple the fare cost once he found out where the destination was and payment had to be given upfront. It was kind of eerie seeing all the warning signs around the perimeter of the house, ‘beware of death’ and ‘any closer I’ll shoot’ were just some of the signs erected on poles that came out of nowhere from the lake ground.

As his hand went to the doorbell for a fourth ring the wooden door swung open and a man opened the door with a wide smile. He didn’t have time to great his host before the man who he recognised as Ian Gallagher pulled him into a hug.

“Klaus, glad you could make it man” Ian greeted as he pulled away.

Joseph smiled looking at the young man who had his shirt on inside out, “Thanks for the invite. Not every day I get invited to thanksgiving at the Milkovich house, I must admit I didn’t think it was real until my agent called me up to confirm it was actually you”.

“Oh, I’m not a Milkovich. I'm Ian”

He looked at Ian and felt overdressed. When he had told his wife over the phone he’d been invited to the Milkovich house out in the swamp for thanksgiving dinner she had been envious. Currently in L.A his wife Persia spent a good ten minutes bemoaning how life was unfair because she was the biggest Milkovich fan while he barely managed to remember any of the Milkovich sibling names. He’d promise he would get an autograph of Mickey for her if she could help him decide on what to wear to dinner. She’d told him it was better to dress formal than turn up like a beggar and be laughed at. How he wished he hadn’t taken Persia’s advice.

Of course he knew who Ian was, after all it was Ian who reached out to him via Facebook and invited him to dinner. Anyone who had a pulse would know who Ian Gallagher was considering he was on every entertainment channel and all tabloids.

“Uh yeah, I know who you are Ian. I meant this house, everyone calls it the Milkovich house, besides the other Milkovich house where the show is filmed that is” Joseph said trying to clear the misunderstanding.

“Oh, okay. Hey, didn’t know Klaus was a Pom. You sound just like Ben and English” Ian said.

He was lead into the house where it opened up into the lounge and kitchen, the place looked larger than he expected with its wide open layout. Awkwardly he handed Ian A bottle of wine.

“I wasn’t quite sure what to bring, my wife recommended the Cabernet” he said following Ian into the kitchen area.

“Ah, sorry but we’re not drinking this week. Actually I don’t drink because of my meds but Mickeys not drinking this week to support me, besides, he thinks wine is for pussies”.

Joseph watched as Ian opened up the cabinet under the kitchen sink and dropped the $400 dollar wine bottle he’d purchase hours ago with much deliberation into the rubbish bin.

He was handed a can of A&W root beer.

"I know it’s not your preferred drink but we don't keep blood on tap, Klaus”

“You can call me Joseph” He said trying to hide the grimace that must have reflected on his face after the sip he took.

Ian nodded at him, “Klaus-Joseph, strange name but I like it!”

“Where’s Mickey?” Joseph asked looking around the house. Even though he had never met Mickey Milkovich he needed to be saved from Ian Gallagher, the conversation was just too strange for him. He felt like he was out of his depth.

It was maybe the wrong thing to ask because Ian’s eyes narrowed at him.

“That’s my line. Do you have a thing for Mickey? I thought you liked women”

He ran a hand through his hair not knowing how to answer the question, “Ah, I do like women. I’m married to one”

“Ian, who the fuck are you talking to?”

Joseph turned just to see Mickey Milkovich come down the hallway, the man looked taller on TV. In reality he couldn’t be more than 5’7 but walked with a swagger that made him think that quite possibly Mickey Milkovich feared nothing.

“Mickey guess who I invited to dinner, it's Klaus-Joseph from The Originals. Mandy’s gonna forever be in my debt after this one!” Ian said as a way of introducing both men to one another.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why is Klaus in this fic? I dunno, he just happened.


	22. It was a vagina funnel

**Mickey**

Never in his life did he think he would be standing in the kitchen peeling potatoes, potatoes that needed to be placed in the oven where the turkey was in exactly 13 minutes. Ian was standing to the side of him talking casually to Joseph Morgan from The Originals while chopping the vegetables he had peeled. He was trying really hard not to complain about having to peel a tonne of vegetables while Ian got to use a mean looking knife on a chopping board that looked thick enough to behead people on.

Mickey glanced over the bench to the dining table where Ian had sat Joseph, the poor fool was tasked with signing in a thick black marker his name on a portrait photo of himself. The portrait was black and white and he was in character as Klaus, leather jacket, fangs and glowing eyes. There was at least over 100 portrait on the table, he wasn’t sure if Joseph knew that in the spare room Ian had another 8 boxes for the actor to sign.

“Mickey, can you hurry the fuck up”, Ian complained.

Ian emphasised the issue by pointing the knife at the potato in Mickey’s hand to the chopping board which had no more vegetables for him to chop.

Mickey glared at Ian, ‘Shut up”. He pointed the tip of the peeler at Ian in return, the both of them holding their kitchen instruments as if they were ready to duel. “All you gotta do is chop chop chop, there’s no fucking art to it. This peeling bullshit takes time to perfect”.

“It's not brain surgery, just peel the damn thing” Ian ordered rolling his eyes.

Mickey ignored his boyfriend deciding to let the argument go considering he was holding a peeler and Ian was wielding a knife. He went back to peeling strips of the potato skin carefully, “Do we really need all this food? Where we all going to eat anyway because our dining table only fits four max”.

“Who needs a table, it’s not like we’re posh. You and Klaus-Joseph can start moving all the lounges in the other rooms out here once he’s done signing those autographs. We can all just sit on the lounges and eat off our laps”.

As ideas went it wasn’t so bad. Mickey mentally went through room by room counting how many lounges they had, the gym, office, spare rooms … he realised they had 8 lounges in total not even counting the two 4 seater lounge they had in the living area. Since Ian had moved in a year ago it seemed they accumulated a lot of unnecessary furniture. Mickey eyed the industrial looking fruit basket made out of rusty looking metal, he was sure he didn’t buy it, the thing was ugly. He picked up the next vegetable that required peeling as he surveyed the living area, even the TV was a new addition Ian had purchased a month ago, replaced because their old TV had toppled over during one of their more vigorous fucking sessions. Still 8 lounges was a lot of seats for two butts, he seriously needed to keep an eye on all the random crap Ian was buying. He’d seen a few episode of that series called Hoarders and wondered if Ian might be at the early stages of being a candidate for the show.

Ian pointed the knife at the actor, “Hey Klaus-Joseph, I can put your autograph up on eBay tomorrow. How much money do you think they’ll fetch? The money will go to the Jesus Christ-sis centre so I might need you staying overnight to sign a few more thousand. Winter’s coming so we need to get more blankets and coats for the homeless folks”

Fucking eBay, that was another thing. Ian was obsessed with buying all random things off the website. Yesterday Ian dragged him to the laptop to look at an instant buy item, claimed he wanted to buy it for Mandy. It was a vagina funnel. He spent the next 5 minutes listening to Ian explaining how Mandy could keep it in the car, that when she needed to pee she wouldn’t need to get out to find a toilet, just use the funnel and pee into a bottle. Mickey had walked off without further comment for a much needed cigarette.

“Okay, I'm done here with the goddamn food” Mickey said dropping the last carrot into the baking tray. He looked over at Joseph, “Let’s go move some furniture. If we got time I’ll show you our gun collection, you can pick one to use later when Colin brings the pumpkins”

Mickey didn’t wait for the vampire actor to follow but heard him push the chair back from the table. Mickey smirked betting Joseph would do just about anything to get away with not having to sign one more autograph.

As they navigated the lounge from the room to the hallway Mickey assessed the married actor. He wondered if he should tell the guy that the reason why the Milkovich’s were in New Orleans to begin with was because of The Originals, Klaus his character in particular. As girl crushes went, Mandy had a big one for the badass vampire.

“Does he seriously want me to sign another thousand?” Klaus whispered.

Mickey tilted the couch so it would fit through the doorway, “Yeah, there’s more than a thousand so you might be here for more than a night. It's gonna be like that movie Misery, you seen it?”

Klaus gave a laugh, “With Kathy Bates, who hasn’t? Doesn't Ian know that your autograph is worth a lot more than mine?”

Mickey shrugged, “Your Original fandom is pretty crazy, I’m sure they’d pay good money for your autograph”.

The problem was Ian always saw him signing autographs and taking photos with fans when they were out. Ian probably assumed he signed so much they would no longer hold any value on his beloved eBay. Mickey liked it that way because the last thing he wanted was to be asked to sign a thousand autographs for the Christ-sis centre, even if it was for a good cause.

As they push and pulled the lounge down the hallway Mickey heard the doorbell ring, he stood up straight indicating for Klaus to be quiet. Mickey heard to door open and a female squeal whom he guessed came from Debbie. Ian’s laughter could be heard and a few more greetings which Mickey recognised as Lip, Liam, Yev and Svet. He stood there for a bit longer listening to the silence that came, heard Ian ask where Fiona was, heard Lip apologise that Fiona couldn’t make it. There was a bit more silence then Ian invited his family into their home.

Mickey motioned for Joseph to start pushing the lounge again as he pulled, once they were out to the open area Mickey nodded to the Gallagher’s as way of greeting. Yev jumped up into his arms and he caught his son in a hug.

“Shit Yev, you’ve grown taller man!” Mickey said giving Yevgeny a kiss on the top of his head.

“Dad, Mom’s really really angry at Uncle Iggy” Yev replied trying to squirm out of the embrace.

Mickey realised his son was soaked from head to toe, he looked around the room at his ex wife who was glaring at his brother like she wanted to skin him. She too was soaked through, as were all of Ian’s family.

Yev’s next words explained everything, “Uncle Iggy thought it would be cool to do some speedboat donuts. It was really cool”.

“I will kill your brother. Hide his body underneath the Alibi” Svetlana stated.

“Aww come on guys, don’t be a party pooper!” Iggy replied as he ushered Liam towards the hallway. “You all come with me I know where the spare clothes are kept”

Mickey put down his son, Yev followed the wet group down the hallway to find dry clothes. He could hear Debbie ask Iggy if the guy in the living room was Klaus from The Originals. He also heard his brothers reply, that it was not Klaus but the lead singer of Coldplay.

Mickey turned to Ian who was now back in the kitchen. In Ian’s hand was a strange looking thing that he could only describe looked like a rocket ship morphing into a female body. It was made of the same ugly metal as the fruit bowl.

“Did Deb’s make that?” He asked Ian.

Ian nodded not looking up at him, “Yeah”.

The statue was placed down on the counter and Ian turned his back to him facing the oven.

Mickey sighed and went to stand beside Ian, “You got three out of five siblings here, the other two will come in time”.

Ian replied talking to the oven, “Carl I know can’t help it. But Fiona, Fiona I haven’t seen or spoken to in almost a year Mickey. It’s not right”.

He put a hand on Ians shoulder giving it a squeeze. “She’ll come around, just give her some time”. Internally he swore when he did finally see her he was going to wring her scrawny neck.

They were interrupted when Yev came running into the kitchen crashing into Ian.

“Ian, can I help?” Yev asked.

Ian finally turned from the oven and picked Yev up, Mickey could tell that Ian’s smile was forced but was glad Ian was trying.

“Sure buddy, why don’t you sit here” Ian placed Yev on the counter handing his son a packet of bread rolls, “Can you butter these?”

“Yep, but I need to face time Molly at 6pm New Orleans time” Yev replied opening the butter container.

Ian nodded, “Ben’s Molly or Aunt Molly?”

“She’s my Molly but Ben’s her dad. Aunt Molly likes to pinch my face so I never want to face time her ” Yev answered as he buttered the first roll haphazardly.

Mickey stood back watching Ian with Yev for a few moments longer enjoying their small talk. It was good seeing the both of them interact, always amazed him how well Ian got along with Yev as if looking after kids came natural.

Mickey turned back to Joseph, “Let’s get back to the lounges before everyone else arrives”.

They went back down the hallway only to run into everyone who where now all wearing either his or Ian’s boxers and T-shirts. He raised an eyebrow at his Svet, she in turn bared her teeth in a snarl.

“Do not say anything or I will bury you underneath The Alibi with your stupid brother”.

Mickey put up both hands “Hey, I wasn’t gonna say nothin’. You all look real good in my underwear, even you Lip. Wrong but good”.

Lip gave him the middle finger while Debbie was busy batting her eyelashes at Joseph. Mickey pushed the actor forward into the next room, “Lounge number two is heavy, I don’t know why but Ian wanted to buy an antique looking one. Leather with all these hard lumps, the most fucking uncomfortable contraption ever”.

**XXX**

Once Colin and the rest of the Milkovich’s arrived Mrs Chen helped Ian place all the food on the kitchen bench. The turkey was laid out on the small dining table and everyone including himself was standing around waiting for some turkey to go with their assortment of bread, peas and baked vegetable.

“Jesus Mickey, where the fuck did you get these plates from?” his cousin asked nudging him with an elbow.

Mickey looked down at his plate wondering the exact same thing. The plate looked huge and possibly made of copper. “Fuck if I know. Ian, where the hell did you get this from? It looks like something a Viking would eat from”.

“Someone came into the Christ-sis centre with a box of dinnerware wanting to exchange it for a free meal. I thought the plates looked kinda cool, very medieval so I took them home. Tonight we can eat like Romans”. Ian handed the carving knife to Joseph, “You’re the guest of honour, you can carve the turkey”.

Mickey watched the actor take the knife from Ian looking uncertain. Everyone had their eye on him, scratch that, almost everyone because Lip hadn’t taken his eyes off Mandy from the moment she arrived with the remaining dozen of Milkovich’s.

It took Joseph forever to carve the first slice of turkey, everyone was groaning because there was at least 30 of them waiting to be fed.

Luckily Mrs Chen stepped into the inner circle with a cleaver, “Here, let me. You take too long my boy Colin go hungry”. There wasn’t a single person who wasn’t in awe when Mrs Chen chopped up the turkey as if she ran the body disposal business for the mob. Within moments everyone got served chunks of turkey in neat little rectangles of skin, meat and bone on their plate. Mickey noticed that Svetlana looked impressed by Mrs Chen’s hacking skills commenting that she needed a cleaver like that one to scare off the neighbourhood thugs in Southside.

Dinner was as Ian wanted. They sat on lounges positioned in no particular order making it look like a maze with plates on their laps. At their feet each person was a goblet filed with root beer that matched their plate.

Mickey sat next to Yev and Svetlana with Debbie on his other side, trying to be a polite host he tried to engage in small talk with the Gallagher’s. “Where’s the little pipsqueak?”

“You mean Frannie?” Debbie asked

Mickey nodded swallowing a piece of carrot he peeled earlier. “Yeah, Frannie”

“With Neil, it’ll give them both time to bond”

“Ian tells me you’ve taken up welding, you make that statue thingy?”

Debbie didn’t get to reply to his question because the conversation on the lounge across from them was more riveting. Ian sat next to Lip, on Lips left was Jospeh followed by Mandy sitting on the other end.

Lip had just made a casual comment to no one in particular that Joseph Morgan was a married man.

“So?” Mandy replied casually leaning back against the couch so she could look past Joseph to Lip. “Didn’t you screw your married teacher?”.

Lip smirked at her, “You been keeping tabs on me Mands?”

Mickey turned to Ian giving him a big grin while Ian rolled his eyes and nudged at Lip to shut up. Joseph in the middle looked uncomfortable, the fucker probably wished he had never accepted Ian Gallagher’s invite.

“Hey Mickey I gotta use your printer later” Iggy yelled from the lounge on the other side of the living room. “I’ll google some pictures of Coldplay so the dude can sign some autographs for me too. My girlfriend has that ‘Fix You’ song on her Spotify list, loves it to death”

The room went quite for a one split second before all the Milkovich clan asked a range of questions that equated to the same query.

“How the fuck did you get a girlfriend?” Mickey asked, stacking his sons empty plate on top of his.

Colin stood up so he could look his brother in the eye, “Is she a blowup doll?”

The goth twins were next, “Is she real or a figment of your imagination?”

Joseph spoke up for the first time since the arrival of everyone, “I'm not Chris Martin”.

“Fuck you all. We been dating for 3 solid months now!” Iggy exclaimed. Iggy turned to Joseph, “And you, who said you were Chris Martin? I don’t even know who that fucker is”.

Mickey was no longer paying attention to the squabble the moment Ian excused himself to Lip. Mickey watched Ian navigate his way through the obstacle course made up of lounges until his back disappeared down the hallway.

He picked up Yev in one arm and placed his son onto Svet’s lap. “Keep Lip away from Mandy”, Mickey murmured to his ex-wife who had been chatting to Mrs Chen.

“I’m not his babysitter” Svet replied ruffling Yev’s hair.

Mickey rolled his eyes, even though they got along she still could be such a bitch. “Just fucking do it Svet. I don’t want them mixed up again”. He didn’t bother waiting for her reply and went to stack the plates in the kitchen sink. Leaving a room full of people in his house he went to track down Ian who he found in their bedroom sitting up against the wall on the carpet in the small gap beside the bedside table. Ian had his legs drawn up, arms wrapped around them staring blankly off into space.

Mickey sat down in front of his boyfriend crossing his legs, “Don’t you have a peach cake in the oven to serve as dessert?”

Ian lifted his head up, “It’s a Peach cobbler and Mrs Chen can serve it up. I'm not feeling well”

Mickey nodded reaching a hand out to run it through Ian’s hair and left the hand on Ian’s shoulder. “You wanna stay in here?”

Ian nodded.

Mickey removed his hand from Ian and stood up, “You’ve got Debbie, Lip and Liam out there with my family. Aren't you worried about them?”. He wasn’t sure Ian would take the bait but was glad when Ian finally stood up.

As Ian passed by Mickey he turned back, "I got us a pet rabbit, her name’s Peggy Sue. That’s what the hay and carrot you keep on finding around the house is for. And thank you for bringing my family”.

**XXX**

Mickey stood outside on the deck looking in through the glass doors at Ian who was sitting on the couch wedged between all the Gallagher’s watching Ian’s new favourite TV series Z Nation. They had set up all the pumpkins on some of the poles on the perimeter of the house and had spent the last half an hour using the pumpkin as targets.

“You would think that Klaus guy would be a crack shot but he’s shit” Colin stated.

Mickey turned from watching the Gallagher’s to glance by Joseph Morgan who went from trying out a semi automatic firearm to a sniper rifle in the hopes he would have more luck. How the hell does one miss a big ass pumpkin with a sniper rifle?

“Some people just don’t have any aim I guess?”, Mickey replied looking pass the Actor to his son who was firing in rapid succession at his pumpkin, not missing.

“Get Joey and Iggy over, we need to talk about that realestate mogul” Mickey said to Colin. Yesterday he had spent some time on the phone with English finding out that James Paxton was 47th on Forbes Billionaire list with a fortune estimated at $16.8 billion. He dealt mostly in commercial realestate overseas in Hong Kong and Dubai so it baffled them both why James was now buying a property in New Orleans. After a few hours Peyton Garic joined them on the call to let them know that James was buying up a lot of property in New Orleans, especially those on the waterfront. It took Peyton less than three minutes to hack into Jame’s email and located a property proposal that took up half of the New Orleans city and some of its surround areas, including the Milkovich house.

“Yo, that Peach Cobbler Ian made was damn good. I need some to take home tomorrow” Iggy said leaning up against the railing on the deck.

Joey nodded, “Better than any sex I ever had”

“Fuck Joey, you must be doing it wrong then” Colin laughed slapping his brother on the back.

“Guys can you stop fucking around for one minute? We gotta figure out what you wanna do with the house, I know you said you don’t wanna sell so we only got a few options left”. His brothers were all quiet now, looking at him expectantly. Mickey let out a sigh, “Option one is we buy him out, problem is it’s not just our house he’s targeting. He’s got these fucking big plans for New Orleans. Thinks he’s doing this city a favour because of that fucked up hurricane years ago”.

Joey looked at him “What's option two?”

“We kill him” Iggy and Colin replied simultaneously.

Mickey nodded, “We could try option one first. If that doesn't work we can start with the threats then move on to asking Mrs Chen to chop him up into nice bite size pieces that can fit through a meat grinder”.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These chapter titles just get stupider each time.
> 
> And thankyou Guest for leaving a kudos tonight, made me realise I hadn't posted a chapter in a while :(


	23. In for a penny, in for a pound

Ian stood in the hallway looking towards the living room and kitchen area in only a pair of shorts. Unconsciously he scratched his chest while surveying the mess before him, “What happened?”.

“You mean with the lounges?” Mickey asked back from kitchen stool seat.

“Do we have mice?” Ian moved up closer to the leather lounge. He crouched down to inspect the bite marks at the edging where the leather was missing and the wooden parts were now showing. There were even gnaw marks on the wood, “Rats maybe. I’ve heard stories about swamp rats, huge motherfuckers the size of beavers”.

Mickey rolled his eyes at Ian. He got up from the seat where he sat reading an old edition of The Times to open the cupboard which kept Ian’s oats. Mickey tore three satchels simultaneously before emptying them into a bowl, “You want water, skim milk or whole milk with these?”.

Ian scrunched up his face “I’m super hungry, can’t you make me steak with chips?”

“You’ve been asleep for three days, so no you don’t get steak with fucking chips. I had to take your family to the airport, clean up the house from your thanksgiving dinner and finally deal with the stupid rabbit of yours”.

Ian made that face, the only way to describe it was as the emoji icon with all the teeth showing. It was between a smile and a grimace.

“So no rats” Ian slid into the stool recently vacated from Mickey and smiled because the seat was still warm. “I’ll have oats then”

Mickey punched the time onto the microwave then turned back to glare at Ian, “Fucking right you’re havin’ oats”.

So Mickey was grouchy, that much Ian could tell. From what he gathered he’d slept for three days from the night of thanksgiving. The last thing he remembered was Mickey dragging him from the lounge after seven episodes of Z Nation, crawling into bed then crying into Mickey’s neck about Fiona not coming to his thanksgiving. Three days ago, he must have gone into a hibernation bender.

“Uh, I’m sorry?” Ian said uncertain. Mickey was always understanding when this happened, he wasn’t sure why this time it was different. “Did everyone get back to Chicago okay?”.

The microwave made the beep that indicated it had done its duty. Mickey pushed the bowl in front of him after placing a spoon into the oat filled bowl.

Mickey growled when Ian look at him expectantly. “What now?” Mickey growled.

He was already in trouble so what did it matter now. “Can you get me the bottle of honey?”

“It’s honey flavoured oats already” Mickey said through clenched teeth.

Ian stirred at the oats not wanting it to cool down in a big glop, he liked his runny. “Yeah but I need more”. Ian looked with puppy dog eyes and added “Please?”.

The cupboard doors open, closed and then the honey came skidding across the kitchen bench at him.

Drizzling almost half the bottle of honey into the bowl the kitchen became quiet except for the clanking of Ians spoon when it hit the bottom of the porcelain bowl. Ian noticed the magazine in front of him and slid it closer so he could read the small font. It was a two spread article on a James Paxton and his vision for the city of New Orleans. In large font there was a quote from the man himself, ‘ _I want to show Mother Nature who the real boss is’._

Article finished and bowl empty of oats Ian looked up at Mickey who was leaned up against the kitchen bench with his arms folded over his chest, “Is this the guy Iggy was talking about?”

“Yeah, met him yesterday”” Mickey replied.

Ian nodded, “Is he a dead man walking?”.

The article had a picture of him, James Paxton looked like a douche with his oily slicked back hair and expensive suit. Born with a silver spoon in his mouth he came from a rich family and probably never had a days struggle in his life.

Mickey didn’t answer Ian’s question, he picked up the empty bowl, washed it in the sink then left it to dry on the rack. “I gotta make a few calls. I bought some safety gates, so after you shower set them up, find your rabbit and set her up on the other side of it”. Mickey pulled a piece of paper held up by a magnet on the fridge then slid it across the counter, “Here’s a list of things the rabbit can eat, notice how ‘lounges’ is not on there”.

Ian watched Mickey leave the kitchen and yelled so Mickey could hear him, “Rabbit has a name and it’s Peggy Sue!”

XXX

Ian did exactly as Mickey asked, not because he was obedient but because he had nothing better to do. He showered then changed the bed sheets because after a full three days in bed he smelt kind of sour and funky.

The safety gates was slightly more difficult, it took him an hour to decide where they should go. Finally he drew up a small layout of the house, after the seventh plan he decided the first safety gate would be at their bedroom. Having Peggy Sue wandering into their room while they had sex just wouldn’t do, her beady eyes would be judging him. The second gate would be set up at the entrance of the hallway segregating the living room from the bedrooms which would allow Peggy Sue room enough to run up and down the hallway for exercise. The last gate was set up in front of his gym room, it wouldn’t do to have one of his weights fall on his ball of fluff.

“Here Peggy Peggy” Ian murmured with a carrot stick in his hand.

He was on all fours knees sore from crawling over half the house searching for the rabbit. On hindsight when he bought the rabbit he should have chosen a black one, black would stand out on the white tiled floor. Peggy was unfortunately as white as snow, a white cashmere Mini Lop, she had the softest fur that was pure white which reminded him of puffy clouds and cotton balls.

“What are you doing?”

Ian’s eyesight was in line with Mickeys feet, slowly he lifted his head so that his eyes took in Mickeys knees, crotch, stomach, chest, shoulders and lastly face. “Have you finished with your phone calls, if so you can help me look for Peggy Sue”.

Mickey shook his head, “If you want a pet you need to take responsibility for it”.

Ian sat back so his neck wouldn’t hurt from having to look up at Mickey. He leaned his back against the wall. “It’s not an it”. Ian frowned correct himself, “I mean she’s not an it”.

“I gotta make a few more calls then we’ll go into the city for dinner. I bought a litter tray and some cat litter, the recycle kind so it’s not harmful to IT”. Mickey crouched down so they were eye level, “Put some hay in the litter tray, apparently rabbits love that shit”.

Ian leaned in and kissed Mickey “How come you know so much?”

Mickey tracked a finger over Ians left brow, “You’ve been asleep for three days, I've had a lot of time to read and plan shit”.

XXX

Regardless if Mickey was cranky at him or not he was allowed to choose where they went for dinner which meant they were now seated in a booth at the back of of his favourite rib joint. Black and white checkered table cloth, a small tea light candle lit, full rack of ribs and a glass of root beer. His life was complete.

“You wanna try some of my sweet potato wedges?” Ian asked trying to break Mickey out of grumpy mood he seemed adamant on staying in.

Mickey cut into his rare stake “If I wanted wedges I would have ordered some”.

Ian sighed wiping his hand on the wet towel the restaurant provided and leaned in over the table. What’s wrong Mickey” Ian whispered across the table.

“Just eat your damn ribs” Mickey replied eyeing the surrounding tables. Everyone was engrossed in their own conversation not paying attention to the two of them. It helped that their booth was barely lit casting shadows over both their faces.

“I’m full”, Ian replied leaning back to studying Mickey. If Mickey were a women Ian would have asked if his boyfriend was PMS-ing, considering he wasn't (thank god) Ian had to play the guessing game. “Did my family say something?”.

Mickey shook his head giving up on the remaining piece of his steak. Digging around his front shirt pocket he pulled out a piece of paper and handed it over to Ian, “Just the tip of the iceberg”.

Ian unfolded the letter taking in the handwriting that he recognised belonging to Yevgeny instantly.

_**Deer Miss Hope,** _

_**Thank you for beeing my teacher. You have been real fun but I am glad to say I will no more be coming to class any more. I have to live my life to the fullist becuz time is short n we only have ~~won~~ 1 shot. I have 2 look out for me and what is importan, I have ~~risponsebely~~ responsabelity to my mom and dad and molly and have thinking that skool is not ~~wer~~ were how I will k-no how to be a man.** _

**_Goodbye_  
_Yevgeny_ _Milkovich out_ **

“Huh”. Ian folded the letter up placing it in his own shirt pocket. “He’s right you know, we only have one shot”.

Ian couldn’t help it, the situation was too funny. He pushed his plate to the middle of the table, crossed his hands on it then buried his face into them unable to contain the giggles that came out. The giggles because heaving laughter which he buried into his forearms as his body shook.

“Laugh it up asshole” Mickey muttered throwing a potato wedge at him. “He gave that letter to his teacher two weeks ago. Yev’s been suspended from school for the rest of the year”.

Ian stopped laughing and looked up “What? How does a seven year old get suspended from school over the cutest letter on the planet?”

“Svet got them suspended. She found out Yev hadn’t been going to school, been dropping him off at the front gate but he’s been going back home and hiding in the forte he’s built in the backyard. She went to speak to the head master, apparently gave him an earful and kicked him in the junk when he claimed she was a bad mother for not knowing what Yev was up to”.

Ian ran his finger over the table cloth, “Have you called the school? You could donate a library or a wing or something. Isn’t that how rich kids get out of trouble?”.

“I ain’t buying that school shit. We’re going to New York first, I gotta see my solicitor about some stuff then we’ll spend a few days in Chicago. I’ll sought things out with Yev and you can spend time with your family”.

Ian shut down at Mickeys words. He stopped tracing his hand on the table cloth and placed them in his lap. Head down he tried to count his breathing to keep it even, in and out. The food he just ate now made him sick, it lay heavy in his stomach roiling and threatened to come up.

“What's wrong?”

Ian heard Mickeys question but couldn’t find it in him to answer. He was still trying to figure out what was wrong, keep the food down and his breathing even. Maybe the residue of his depression was still lingering, that must be why Mickeys words hurt so much. Why couldn’t they sought things out with Yevgeny together?

As soon as the question came Ian’s answer came firing back at himself. Because Yev isn’t your son, he had nothing to do with creating him. Yevgeny was Mickeys and Svetlana, and he was just a third wheel, would always be. He didn’t get a say in Yev’s wellbeing, this was one thing Mickey could always exclude him out of no matter now much he tried to embed himself into his boyfriends life.

It didn’t mean he couldn’t try. Ian swallowed looking up at Mickey, the Mickey who he moved to New Orleans for, black haired, blue eyes and a grin that never failed to make his heart do somersaults.

“We can deal with the school and Yevgeny together” Ian answered tentatively.

Mickey waived a hand in the air, “Not your problem. I'll deal with bat shit crazy Svetlana and Yev”.

Ian gripped the edge of the tables with both hands until his knuckles where white, “It’s not a problem. It's Yev”

“He’s not your son and Svet’s not your ex-wife. I’m sure you got better things to do in Chicago than deal with my shit”

Ian felt nauseous, “Our shit. It’ll give me practice when we have more kids”

There was a long silence after that, even the laughter and talk around them disappeared completely. Ian didn’t dare look at Mickey, didn’t want to see the frown on Mickey’s face that he could picture, that he knew was there.

“What kids?” Mickey asked quietly.

Wasn’t there a saying, ‘in for a penny in for a pound’? Ian heard Ben say it every time  they were having a food eating marathon. Did it apply to this situation he as in? Ian licked his lips and found that he was on the verge of crying and didn’t know why.

“The ones we’ll have one day” Ian replied his voice soft.

He was greeted with more silence, this time the absence of sound was different. It was loud, clear and drew up an impenetrable barrier between him and the person he loved most in the world.

Mickey stood up from the table, “I’ll get the bill”.

XXX

The next few days Ian felt the full force of that impenetrable wall, he likened it to Fort Jefferson. Just when you thought you chipped away at one brick, you found out you had to contend with another 16 million. They slept in the same bed, ate together and watched TV on the lounge together with Peggy Sue on his lap but it wasn’t the same. His comment about kids just might be the unraveling of their relationship and Ian didn’t know how to fix it.

He could tell Mickey wasn’t mad. From the stolen moments when Mickey wasn’t looking Ian could see the tiredness on his boyfriends face. This was wearing them both down.

Peggy Sue sat between them on a blanket, she was currently malting and leaving fur everywhere. Neither of them had the energy to complain.

Ian stroked Peggy Sue’s head as she slept, “I want a family with you Mickey”.

Mickey turned the volume down on the TV and turned towards him. He waited for a long time for Mickey to say something, a few times Mickey opened his mouth only to close it. He watched Mickey rub at his eyes with a hand, an indication that what was to come, came at a cost to Mickey.

“We are a family Ian” Mickey said

Blue eyes begged at him to understand.

Ian wished he could accept it, let it go and carry on as they have for most part of the year but he couldn’t. “I want everything with you. Marriage, kids, I want the 2.4”.

“Ian, we’re not the Brady bunch. And your fucking gay, how are we gonna have kids”

Ian snapped, “You’re fucking gay too!”. He stood up back to the TV and turned to Mickey, “Gay marriage is legal Mickey, right here in this state. As for kids, we can adopt or even look into getting a surrogate”. Ian saw Mickey start to shake his head and put up a hand, “A lot of gay couples use surrogate mothers Mickey. I know Yev is your first, but it doesn't mean we can’t have more. I want a big family. Yev can have brothers and sisters to play with. I know most times siblings are a pain in the butt but they can-”. Ian had to stop to hiccup and wipe at his eyes, “They can be good too”.

Mickey was still shaking his head at him.

Ian lost his momentum to continue his argument and sat back down on the lounge deflated. He went back to stroking Peggy Sue’s head, stayed there silently even when Mickey stood up and said he needed some air, that he would be back in a few hours. Ian didn’t even point out that it was past midnight and freezing outside. He let Mickey pick up the boat keys from Deb’s fruit bowl before leaving him alone in the dark with a sleeping ball of fluff as his only companion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wrote this chapter 7 times and it's still meh


	24. In for a penny, in for a pound. Part 2

Netflix had a show called ‘Inside Russia’s toughest prison’. He wondered briefly if that’s how English became gay because watching the display of his watch as the minutes ticked by did nothing good for his sanity. Mickey had been gone for over two hours and in that time he had finished the first season of Z nation and moved on to his current show.

Prison in Siberia looked fucking cold.

Ian took out his phone scrolled through his contacts, all his recent calls came up with Mickeys name on the screen. He scrolled down further until he found Lips name and pressed the call button. He let the call ring twice before hanging up, what did he have to say to his brother anyway? _Mickey left two hours ago because he didn’t want to have my babies_. Even that sounded stupid to him.

He opened up a new text and typed in the letter E, English came up and Ian began his text.

 **Ian** : Was it cold in the Gulags?

 **English** : Never cold, overcrowding. A bit too early for text?

 **Ian** : I’m not doing so well

 **English** : Did your daughter send her teacher a resignation letter as if she was resigning from her position as CFO at Lloyds bank?

So Molly and Yev where in on it together.

 **Ian** : No? But I think it’s part of my problem. What should I do?

 **English** : Write up a list of Pros and Cons. Which ever side has the most, do the opposite.

Ian placed his phone onto the armrest of the lounge and picked up a spiral notepad on the coffee table. There was a pen embedded in the spiral so Ian pulled it out and flipped over the cover to the first page. In Mickeys chicken scratch writing there was a list of addresses with figures next to them, all in the millions. Ian flipped through a few more pages until he found a blank one, he pulled the lid of the pen off with his teeth spitting it out onto the tiled floor. He drew a line down the centre of the page on the right hand side he wrote Pros, and of the left, Cons.

He spent a few minutes staring at the page, underlined Pros and Cons a few time with the pen. Underlined it some more.

Ian placed the notebook by his phone on the armrest and looked down at Peggy Sue who was still sleeping. “Was it wrong of me to ask for more?”

Peggy Sue didn’t answer but she did make some noises as if she was dreaming.

Why had he told Mickey he wanted kids? Did he even want them? Marriage and kids seemed to go hand in hand, wasn’t it what people did? Even Gay people?

Ian ran a hand over his face looking around the living room for answers. The moon outside was full, it glowed an eerie yellow but didn’t enlighten him in any way. His eyes ran over the TV unit, stopped upon a frame that he never noticed before. The frame was about a handspan in height and had a picture of him in it, a black and white portrait from one of his earlier photoshoots. He could tell it was cut out from a magazine because the edges looked like it was torn off crudely, some of the text print could even be seen on the edge of the page. Ian turned to the other side of the TV unit and found a matching photo frame. This one held a more recent photo of him, he wore a Ralph Lauren polo shirt with its collar popped up.

Ian stood up. Those where not the only photo’s in the living room now that he was looking. The wall against the TV held similar frames, all him, not necessarily from photoshoots. Some he knew Mickey had taken with his phone, there was a picture on the wall with him and Yevgeny when they had been in Devon. He and Yev where on a bobsled going down a hill, Mickey had been at the foot of the hill snapping the photo. On the kitchen bench was a frame that housed four photos, squared off into quarters. All photos of him from a photoshoot in LA a few months ago, none had made it to the magazine. He knew this because the photographer had complained that the colour yellow made him looked washed out. He recalled that day changing into a green shirt which the magazine used as the front cover of GQ last month.

Ian walked through the house as if he had never seen it before, like he was waking up for the very first time. Every room he walked through had pictures of him hanging in frames on the walls. Every flat surface held pictures of him too, some flattering and a few not so flattering.  
He hesitated in front of Mickeys office, counted to five before pushing the door open and turned on the light switch. Ian checked the walls, they were void of any frames. The happiness he felt moments ago extinguished like someone had snubbed the flame out with their thumb and forefinger. Ian turned to switch off the light but paused, on the office table was a frame. He slowly moved forward until his thighs hit the desk, slowly he reached towards the frame and turned it to face him.

He recognised the photo, it was the same one he’d seen in Mickeys wallet when they were on their way to Edmonton. Their trip to Canada felt like a life time ago, he’d learnt things about himself in that Air BnB apartment.

How quick he had unlearnt them.

What good did giving Mickey ultimatums ever do for him, do for both of them? Forcing Mickey to acknowledge feelings for him when he wasn’t ready. Making Mickey choose between coming out or losing him, and for what, just so he could be assured that Mickey would chose him at every turn?

Mickey had already chosen him.

Ian swirled around leaving the office in a hurry, he went to the bedroom and put on warmer clothes. He stopped by the lounge to pick up the bundle of blankets and Peggy Sue within it, Ian placed it all gently down in the spare room and closed the gate that separated the living room off so she couldn’t get to the living room while he was gone.

Grabbing the JetSki keys from Deb’s fruit bowl Ian walked out the door with new found purpose.

Even at full throttle it would take him 10 minutes to make it to the City River walk but that was okay. It gave him time to figure out what he needed to say to Mickey. He made a mental list in his mind. First being that he loved Mickey and was sorry for being an ass. Secondly he didn’t need kids, they had Yev and he was happy with whatever part of Yev’s life he could play a role in. Thirdly, marriage. He didn’t need it, he didn’t need a certificate that just proved they were joined, because they already were.

Mickey was committed to him in every way that counted, Mickey was with him by choice.

Ian docked the JetSki by the familiar boat and climbed up the ledge not bothering with the concrete steps that seemed too out of the way. He jogged down the path that would lead him to their spot overlooking the billboard. He had forgotten that today was the posting of the next picture on his year rented billboard. This photo was less risqué than the last two, it was of him fully clothed, even overclothed. He was wearing at least 20 layers of shirts and jackets with pants, shorts and skirts on his bottom half. On the left hand side were the words: **Got too much? Give to those who need it more. Jesus-Crisis Centre.**

With the full moon Ian could just make out the edge of the billboard through the trees. He looked straight ahead towards the metal bench where Mickey and he always sat late at night while Mickey studied the billboard. He could recognise the outline of Mickey who was standing with his back to him, facing the billboard. Relief threaten to buckle his knees so Ian stopped to take in a breath.

It was as if Mickey could sense him, he turned and faced him. Ian whispered Mickey’s name.

The sound of car tyres screeching nearby causing them both to look to the street, a jeep pulled up and four figures stepped out of the vehicle. The next few seconds happened so fast but Ian watched it unfold in slow motion. Despite the distance Ian saw Mickey lift the back of his jacket up, saw the moment when his hand came away empty. Mickeys face turn to him, face etched with frustration that the gun he usually carried in the back of his jeans was not there. Ian was running now, eyes only on Mickey, a hundred more steps and he would be within Mickeys reach.

Mickey held up a hand, palm up in what Ian knew was to tell him to stop. He knew it was too dark to read the lines of Mickeys face but he knew Mickey was apologising to him. For what he didn’t know.

“Mickey” Ian whispered.

He was afraid now because Mickey wasn’t making a move towards him. Mickey had turned, back to him running in the other direction to meet the four figures head on. Ian pushed himself knowing he was going to be too late, the guys headed towards Mickey had half the distance to cover than he did and it wasn’t helping that Mickey was headed in their direction. Ians thighs burned as he watched Mickey throw the first and second punch at the closest guy, then the two of them where grappling one another.

The three remaining weren't just spectators, Ian watched when one of them lifted up a crow bar and swung it across Mickeys back, Ian counted four times. Mickey went down taking the guy he was still grappling down with him. Mickey kicked up and got the third guy in the kneecap then rolled over so that when he got hit with the crow bar again it got him across the back of the legs.

The fourth guy kicked Mickey in the head three times then moved lower and kicked at Mickeys ribs continuously before Ian was on him. Ian didn’t bother wasting time, he had one arm across the guys throat and wrapped the other hand over his face, Ians thumb found that delicate place underneath the brow ridge and pressed in until he felt the resistance give and something hot run down his hand. He heard the howl of pain from the guy but didn’t let go until he was on his knees screaming with both hands over his face.

The first blow came to the back of his head, it was lucky Ian had a thick skull. He twisted crouching low and pulled the guys legs out from under him. He landed on his back, Ian was on top of him straddled at the guys chest punching him in the face over and over he stopped moving.

Guy number one had dragged Mickey to the centre of the road and was now clambering into the jeep. Ian crawled off the guy he was on and pushed himself up, his body was shaking and his knees wanted to give out. Ian looked at Mickeys lifeless body laying on the road and stood up. Gritting his teeth Ian stumbled onto the road and into the light beam of the jeep, the jeep was only five feet away from them, engine revving. Ian slipped an arm underneath Mickeys neck and rolled Mickeys body towards his chest. He moved himself so that his back was towards the lights then let his body relax so that he was in a half sitting laying position. Ian moulded into Mickey where possible, his arms, chest and head curved into Mickey to protect as much as he could for the impact to come.

The pain at the back of his head was like nothing he had ever felt before, so much that the injury to his body didn’t even register. Just before he loss consciousness he held on tighter to Mickey, he thought about that saying Ben always said, ‘in for a penny, in for a pound’. In that moment when both Mickeys and his body lifted off from the ground and landed a few feet away Ian understood the saying wasn’t about competitive eating, nor was it about ultimatums.

Ian was all in, in life and in death. That’s what it meant to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not dead. Will do part 3 once I figure out a part 3 title. Can I go for a 'Mickey and Ian is free'? That's not even proper English. 
> 
> I always liked that title 'Snow falling on cedar", so poetic, despite having no clue what it means.


End file.
